“You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.”

– 13th-century Persian poet Rumi

Now that football season is upon us, I reflect on how we handle life’s circumstances when obstacles come our way. What if the quarterback never got up after a sack? What if he decided to lie flat on his back and look at the cloudless blue Colorado sky? I imagine his teammates, fans, and coaches would be extremely disappointed; not to mention John Elway whom I’m confident would have a thing or two to say about the matter.

Fortunately, the quarterback instantly jumps up, takes the football in his hands, and (hopefully) goes for the touchdown.

Yet in our own lives, when we get a sack or something doesn’t go the way we think it should, we hibernate, eat, watch TV, blame, get angry, shop, or what other tactics we can consciously or subconsciously come up with to avoid facing.

What if instead we acknowledged the sack? “Wow, I didn’t see that coming!” or “Wow, I fell right into that trap” or “Wow, that really hurt!”.… and then quickly got up, took our place on the field, held our head high, learned from our experience, and then beheld the champion light of God’s good within us? Wouldn’t we be the better player in the end?

Sometimes we have to play defense. We must have good boundaries in order to walk down the field of life and sometimes, more often than not, we have to play incredible offense.

No matter what, we have to hold onto our ball and never give up — even if it is the fourth down. For one never knows, something miraculous — like a super bowl ring may be just around the corner. To give the ball up, to never touch the trophy, to never ride in the celebration parade, and to never go to Disney World, all because courage was needed to persevere, would be disappointing.

We are all meant to fly. We are all meant to be champions. We are all meant to be the people we were born to Be. Don’t lie on the field when victory is around the corner. Be strong! Be brave! Be courageous! It takes all these attributes to fly. This is how dreams come true.
Keep focused, have faith, trust in your Self, never give up, and stay true to your heart and God will guide you to your own super bowl in the perfect divine timing!