Learning More than Golf at Penn National
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, 78 degrees, and perfect golf weather. I called Penn National. I’ve golfed there a hand full of times,
usually on their Iron Forge course; however, yesterday, they put me with a couple of golfers on their Founders course. It was an excellent opportunity to see how my game was progressing and how these golfers would respond to my slump. The start was rough. They weren’t very chatty with me. They kept to themselves, which made golfing with them a bit awkward. They warmed up after a couple of holes, and when I told them what I do, they quickly opted out of being named or photographed for my little blog. LOL. They were kind enough to give me advice, though, which was “hit them straight.” As most players will tell you, that is easier said than done. When you are standing on the tee and looking out onto the course, hitting it right up the middle would seem easy, but just like life, it’s not easy.
God gave me a nugget for my blog as well. I was hitting the ball one time, and it was a worm burner. In golf terms, it’s when you hit the golf ball, and instead of flying through the air, it accelerates across the grass at record speed, probably killing all the poor worms along the way. LOL. Anyway, it was a “worm burner,” and a little piece of wisdom hit me like a ton of bricks. A still, small voice said, “It’s not pretty, but it moves you forward toward your goal. Just keep hitting them.” How many times in life do we want to quit because something turns out differently than we expected? I expected my hit to be beautiful and easily sail through the air, but that’s not what happened. Instead, it wasn’t pretty but moving closer to the pin. In life, sometimes, the job we thought would be great differed from what we thought it would be. Our partner we thought we knew well isn’t who we thought they were. Friendships go awry; children that might be a constant struggle, houses that looked good from the outside but were a money pit inside; the list is full of things that weren’t as you would expect. Do you quit because it’s not what you hoped? No. These are life’s challenges and are meant to be in our lives for a reason. We can either continue to navigate through them or quit, but if you give up, you might be giving up on the blessing too.
I had an acquaintance who once told me that looking back on his life, he could see how God had planned for every heartbreak and job loss to get him to where he is now. I have always remembered it. God has a plan; it might not look pretty to you, but stick with it, and you will see the abundance on the other side.
