Friday Night Lights on Wednesday

Life is a funny thing. We are given so much, but we don't even come close to tapping into our full potential.

I just finished watching "Friday Night Lights," a movie that any former football player can relate to. I played football my freshman and senior years of high school. I didn't play my sophmore or junior years because I was afraid. I was afraid of getting hurt, I was afraid of facing guys bigger than me, I was afraid of climbing that mountain. My senior year, I was the best at my position. I can say that there was not another Defensive End in the league that was as good as me, and I didn't even expect to play Varsity when I joined. I worked my ass off, always asking questions, always trying to get better, and the result was that I did get better. I got a lot better. Not only did I grow as a football player, I grew as a person: my approach was dedication and all smiles. I gave my all every game, knowing that when that game was over, I could stand tall and know that there was nothing more I could do to help my team win the game.
After watching this movie, I feel very reflective. I walked outside to take the trash out and ended up standing in the middle of the street for a good 15 minutes thinking about all the gifts God has given me, and how underutilized they all are. I have been blessed with a great athletic ability and an understanding of sports. I feel I underutilized this during my time in high school when I was afraid to play football. Had I played all four years, I would probably be playing at a university right now. Even though I love baseball, I never had more fun and never worked harder than when I was playing football. I want to carry this over into all the other aspects of my life, and I think everyone should follow: Don't be afraid of hard work; the rewards are so great that they are immeasurable.
When I look at all of the other gifts I've been given, I think about what I am using them for. Why don't I thank God every day for my sight, for my voice, for my hearing, for my friends, for my loving parents, for my car, for my laptop that I'm writing on right now, for my bed, for my dog, for my brain, for breath, for my job, for my phone, for my youth groups, for my clothes, for my television, for food, for my body, and for everything else I can't think of right now? It's so easy to cherish happiness and forget thankfulness until something happens in our lives.
There's so much I want to do. I want to become a public speaker, talking to everyone, reaching their hearts, and entertaining them. I want to continue playing sports and stay in shape. A friend asked me if I want to play football with him on his buddies on Sundays. At first I said no, but now I want to join them even more. Even though I'm playing baseball right now but I would love to keep playing other things too. I want to use my brain and intelligence to create a new type of hearing aid that would be suitable for athletic hearing impaired people. It's always annoying when I'm working really hard and sweating, then all of a sudden my hearing aid stops working from the moisture. And I want to have the dedication to learn to play an instrument. It has always been something that's intrigued me.
My life has been filled with happiness, and now that I've become thankful for these things, I want to work harder to earn them, to use them, to not let my life go to waste. I have many desires in my life. I have a desire to be everyone's best friend, someone they can share with and trust. I know that it is not possible to be EVERYONE'S friend because a person would be stretching himself too thin, but I want to be the best friend I can possibly be to the people in my life.

I really enjoy these relationships in my life, both new and old. I've met and gotten to know some really AMAZING people in the last two months, and previous bonds are restrengthening and becoming reinvigorated lately. Some people I've really enjoyed getting to know lately have been Nez, Clemrose, Charmaine, Brenton, Angie, Ivy, Paula, and Jerick. Some people that I've known for awhile but have been focusing on strengthening our relationships are Daniel, Scuba, Tony, Camila, and Law. There's many other people that come to mind when I think about our relationships, but these are the ones that come to the forefront of my consciousness because of their pivotalness (is that even a word) recently in my life. I grow from others, and learn from their experiences and living attitude.

I think I'm going to wrap this up now. I just wanted to say that I feel good, powerful, ready to take on the next day, be thankful for the things in my life, and love the people in it. Maybe tomorrow I'll go over my summer goals. Yes! =)