My daughter really enjoys basketball, her favorite team is the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls hosted a 3v3 tournament in their parking lot at the end of summer to kick off the upcoming season. My daughter of course wanted to play. It was a really cool opportunity but we were all commenting on how cool it would be if one day she got to actually play inside the arena on the court. Well, my friends, TODAY is that DAY!!!! 

3 Life Lessons That stand out about this opportunity…

(1) Hard work pays off

My daughter doesn’t look like the typical basketball player, she’s short and small, but what she lacks in physical abilities she makes up in her work ethic. She loves basketball and knows that if she wants to keep playing she will have to put in the work, and she does. She works really hard. She works hard at practice when her coaches are watching but she also works really hard when no one is watching. She shows up to every practice at least 30 mins early to get in a little extra work in the winter and all summer long it’s the pound of a basketball on our driveway. She works on ball handling and shooting constantly it seems. But her hard work is paying off.  So whatever it is that you want to do or get better at, put in the work. Put in the work when others are watching, but especially put in the work when it seems like no one is watching, and represent God well while you are putting in the work.

Colossians 3:17, 3:23

Proverbs 13:4

Philippians 4:13

Galatians 6:9

2 Chronicles 15:7

(2) God knows our dreams

God knows the desires of our hearts, in fact, he gave them to us. It’s good for us to have goals and dreams that we are reaching for and God wants to see us accomplish the things that we set out to do. Sometimes the dreams we have happen quickly and sometimes they may seem like there is no way for them to happen and they are likely never to be accomplished, but no matter what, don’t give up on the things that God put in your heart. Keep going and keep believing that God has good things ahead for you and will make a way for those things to come to pass.

Proverbs 6:3

Proverbs 37:3-4

Matthew 19:26

(3) Enjoy it

No matter what eventually God will transition you to something else or change your opportunities so enjoy them while you have them. We go from glory to glory so we always have better days ahead but I think it is good for us to enjoy what we have today and not take any of it for granted. We don’t know what tomorrow holds.

Ecclesiastes 2:24, 5:18

Proverbs 17:22

Psalms 16:11

Psalm 118:24