This was supposed to be the weekend that my favorite sports team, the Kansas Jayhawks, began their quest for the National Championship. March Madness turned into March Sadness.
Hello, my name is Sandra, and I’m addicted to KU basketball. Anyone who knows me well knows that I get pretty obsessed during the season, and it gets worse during March Madness. I go way beyond watching the games. I read stories online, follow #kubball on social media, listen to podcasts. You get the idea.
A sports reporter early in his newspaper career, my dad loved all things sports and had an encyclopedic memory for sports statistics. I only really focus on one sport and one team. When I was at KU way back in the ’80s, I watched all-time Jayhawk scoring leader Danny Manning play, and I was hooked.
Since then, I’ve followed them through disappointing early exits, decent runs to the second weekend and the glory years of nine Final Fours since 1986 and two National Championships
Anyway, you can imagine my shock and dismay when my favorite team was favored to win it all and never got a chance to make a run in the tournament.
As people around the world are suffering and dying from COVID-19 and many are losing their sources of income and having milestone events in their lives canceled or postponed indefinitely, watching basketball games doesn’t seem as important.
Remembering what matters
What IS important? The well-being of my family, especially my mom who lives alone and Shawn’s parents, supporting loved ones through phone calls, texts and social media outreach, finding ways to help in my community and across the globe.
Instead of getting frustrated that I can’t do the fun things I want to do, I’m trying to count my blessings. I have enough toilet paper for at least the next week or two. Right now we’re all healthy. I won’t be able to earn any substitute teacher income for a while, but I still have a few freelance tasks, and Shawn’s job is secure.
To add insult to injury, this has been an unusually wet March. I’m treasuring chances to jog with the dog. Spring beauty is all around us! And I can hang on because the weather will change. Next week, the forecast is sunny 80s.
Being deprived of sports or any kind of fun event involving more than ten people helps me remember that sometimes I like to distract myself with entertainment instead of focusing on what really matters. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the sports games, the movies, the concerts, shopping at the mall, etc., but I have a tendency to allow things like my Jayhawk basketball obsession to make me think I’m living a full life when I’m not.
Am I biding my time or living out of a greater purpose?
I’ve let my blogging take a back seat for quite a while now. Mainly because I’m discouraged about my lack of progress. That leads me to avoid blogging tasks, which results in more discouragement. But how about remembering the joy of writing and communicating ideas to people? So what if I only have a handful of readers?
And thank you to those of you who are reading my posts. I want to serve you well by helping you think about your life in a meaningful way.
We can’t control what is going on in the world today, but we can choose where we focus our thoughts. Am I thinking about all the things I’m missing or am I thinking about my blessings?
Instead of stocking up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer, let’s stock up on love and kindness.
We may have less entertainment, less in our bank accounts and less certainty about the future. But we have more time to talk with those we love (either in person or on our devices), more time to practice small (or not so small) acts of kindness, and more clarity about what really matters.
All the stuff and all the fun events don’t compare with the people we hold dear. In this season of social distancing, we may not be able to hold our people close in a physical sense. But we can reach out to them and let them know they are close to our hearts.
Promises of hope
As a Christian, I hold close to the promises of God in times of crises. If your faith is fragile right now (or has been for a long time), I’d like to tell you that God loves you very much. I don’t believe He causes diseases and catastrophes, but I DO believe He uses them to get our attention.
Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.”
You can talk to God anytime and tell Him your worries and doubts. In Mark 9:17-27, a man seeking healing for his son told Jesus, “Help my unbelief.” Then Jesus healed his son.
Pour out your heart to God, all the messy truths you can uncover. And maybe you’ll begin to sense His love for you.
In case you didn’t know, the Kansas state motto is “Ad astra per aspera,” which means “To the stars through difficulties.” No one wishes to have more trials and suffering, but they can shape our character like nothing else.
I’ve written about this before here and here.
I’m reminded of a Bible verse, “We rejoice in our suffering, because we know suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:3-5
Here are a few promises that bring me hope:
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:28-31
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23
Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” – John 14:27
When we’re going through a crisis, we usually don’t know when life will get back to normal. In the meantime, let’s treat one another with care.
The Jayhawks had a running theme this season of “Lock In.” Lock in on defense is usually what you think of when you hear that phrase in basketball. But it went further than that to “Lock in” on setting aside distractions and on being the best you can be. And my team exemplified that this season, both outstanding on defense and not allowing distractions to get in the way of their goals.
How can we “Lock in” with love and compassion, not allowing discouragement to keep us from helping others?
While most of us are locked in our houses, let’s “Lock in” to what we share in common and focus on getting through this together as a team. Stay safe by following guidelines. Then make a call, send a text of encouragement or find a way to meet a need.
In these uncertain times, “lock in” with love.
What positive step can you take today? If you’ve found this post encouraging, please share it! Thank you and God bless you and yours.
