Coaching Football's "Little Things"

Coaches: For those of you who have maybe just recently started reading my blog, I want to point out that I try to make the entries “timely” for coaches. By that I mean that what I write about “fits” into the school year as far as what is typically going on in a coach’s life at that particular time. For example, last year at this time (you need to go back in the “history” section), I wrote about dealing with failure… and that some of you may be facing a firing from your postion. I shared some words of encouragement.

Rather than re-writing, I encourage you to look back over the previous months’ entries and see if there’s a topic that is cogent to your situation. If there’s something that you’d like me to respond to, please feel free to email me and let me know!

I want to share a thought this morning with you that really impacted me when I read it. It’s title is: Make Ripples!

The story’s told of Elzeard Bouffier, a 55 year old widower who lived in a French village in 1910. He was surrounded by poverty and despair. So he did something! He collected thousand of acorns and planted them throughout the area in which he lived. When they took root, he then cultivated beeches. When they became saplings, he planted birch trees. One day, amidst the death and devastation of World War I, a mysterious grey mist appeared on the horizon. It was the oaks of 1910, below them the adolescent beeches and below them the tiny birch seelings.

Bouffier kept planting, and at the end of WW II, French environmentalists annoucned that a “natural forest” had “mysteriously” sprung up, flourishing amidst its barren surroundings!

But the story doesn’t end there; his forest started a chain reaction. Water flowed in brooks that had dried up. The wind scattered seeds and willows, rushes, meadows and gardens sprung up. New people came to live there, bringing with them hope and prosperity. Elzeard Bouffier found acorns, planted them and God did the rest!

God can do much with little. Look what He did for David with a sling and a stone. He fed 5000 people with a little boy’s lunch. And He will do the same for you! Your life is like a pebble; it may not look like much, but drop it into a pond and watch the ripples spread out in every direction. Every day you live, you have 3 options: 1- Think only of yourself and your own interests. 2- Since success doesn’t come without the possibility of failure, take NO risks and go no further. or… 3- Ask God to show you what you’ve got, then use it to make ripples.

Give thanks with a grateful heart. Happy Thanksgiving, 2010!