Back to the Basics

Have you ever listened to a good coach? I mean a coach that can take any kind of talent in any sport and make the players really fun to watch? There's one phrase that you will hear a good coach say over and over-- "practice and master the fundamentals".

I’ve had the opportunity over the past few weeks to return to my “glory days” just a bit by playing some indoor soccer. I’ve learned a couple things while playing. The first, is that I am not 17 years old anymore and the second, is that having 2 knee surgeries and 2 c-sections really takes a toll on a woman’s body. So last night we played against some young men that were not from this country. They were athletic, in their early 20’s, and totally ran circles around us. These guys were running circles around our team while speaking to each other in their foreign tongue. My first thought was, well even if I was still 17 I wouldn’t have a chance. (Don’t tell my 17 year old self that--she would kill me for thinking this way) My second thought was, return to the basics. I was not going to be able to stick with those guys, and I surely couldn’t out-run or out-move them, so I had to get back to the fundamentals. We ended up losing anyway, but I did score the only goal.

I think that our spiritual life is very similar to all those sports we love to play/watch. The players that are GREAT are those that focus on the basics and master them before trying any fancy stuff. Our spiritual life should rely on the basics as well.

Confession, the rosary, adoration, novena’s, and a multitude of written traditional prayers are all basics that as Catholics we should fall back on when our spiritual life may not be very inspired. We’ve all been there. We’ll all probably be there again at some point in our lives. “Going through the motions” isn’t the way that we’re supposed to pray or act in mass. However, the grace of God is still being given to us! It is through His grace that our spiritual life will become inspired again.

When you’ve had a long day, week, or month remember that God’s grace is ever-present. Get back to the basics. Let the basics transition you into the fancy stuff. God doesn’t call us to be perfect. God just wants us to be the best we can be each and every day, so we fall back on the stuff we know by heart and let the rest fall into place.

Always count your blessings--especially the small ones! J