Keep Your Eye on the Ball
Every yard gained in the red-zone comes with great difficulty.  We all face our own 300 pound linemen in the form of being disappointed with life, tired and wanting a rest, having lost our vision for the future and an array of other formidable enemies.  Going all the way in life is not easy.  Some tragically stop having made it 80% of the way.  Don’t wimp out on the last 20 yards.  Remember, you have a secret weapon.  It’s your natural ability that is now combined with experience and influence.  As my friend leading the seminar told us, “You have leverage!”  So, take it and change the world!

We Have Enemies:  The first enemy is ourselves.  We are our own worst enemy when we fail to properly process our despair, decide to take a long nap or stay vision-less and apathetic toward the future.

Friends and associates can also hold us back.  Sometimes they become uncomfortable when we are willing to take reasonable risks that they are not willing to take.  They may try to discourage us in order to remain comfortable with their own state of mediocrity.  This is a great contrast to those in our life who encourage us when we make difficult decisions.  Those are our real friends.

There is also spiritual resistance.  This kind of resistance is unseen but clearly felt. The Apostle Paul described it in the Bible when he wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Paul make it very clear that we deal with a warfare that is not against people, but against the spiritual powers that operate behind the scenes through people.

We lose vision:  Helen Keller is quoted as saying, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision.”  Only months before her second birthday Helen became blind and deaf as the result of sickness.  However, she defied the odds and became a popular author and lecturer.  Although she lacked sight and hearing, she had a clear vision for her life.

It is easy to lose our vision for the future when we plod through life trying to make a buck and meet the needs of those around us.  Life can become drudgery, predictable and inward focused.  Unlike Helen Keller, we might decide to play it safe and live an apathetic life.  While it may not be possible for some to regain sight, with effort, everyone can regain vision and hope for the future.

We are tired and believe we deserve a rest:  I will not deny that on occasion the press of life gets so great that we legitimately need a forced rest.  Most of the time, however, we are like a long distance runner who “hits a wall.”  Marathon runners reach a point half way through the race where they believe that they can go no further.  Everything in them wants to stop.  Runners have learned, however, to push through this phase of the race.  Seemingly, from out of nowhere comes a burst of energy, the wall crumbles and they are able to finish the race.

It is that way for those of us in the red-zone, as well.  Yes, we are tired, but just on the other side of our desire to rest there is a burst of energy that will take us all the way into the end-zone.  F. Scott Fitzgerald said it like this, “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”  Don’t buy into the lie of the latter.