What movies have offered you wisdom for your life?
Denzel Washington plays Coach Herman Boone in the movie, Remember the Titans. Inspired by a true story, he leads the integration of two high school football teams along with the coaching staffs.
Coach Boone provides remarkable one-liners throughout the movie. I wanted to share with you two of them that have stuck out to me.
1. “I run six plays, split veer. It’s like novocaine.”
At the beginning of the movie, Coach Boone has to unite the coaching staff. Coach Yost, the demoted coach, hands him a massive playbook for the offense.
2. “You can throw the ball a mile, but you can’t pitch a ball three yards.”
Coach Boone says this to the new starting quarterback, Ronnie Bass. Part of running six play in an offense means understanding how as a quarterback to pitch the ball to the running back or run with it yourself.
Why do these two quotes stand out? Both of them have a Solomon like wisdom from the Bible. Far too often, we can succumb to complicating our lives by moving from the six plays to the massive playbook. We can also become enamored with throwing the football a mile before we can make the simple pitch.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”
Patience moves us to accomplish the elementary tasks and reminds us to stick to the plan. Pride leads us to make shortcuts and overlooking the behind the scenes work in front of us.
For followers of Jesus, patience builds our faith. Because we learn to recognize the opportunities for faithfulness that Jesus has put in front of us.
What if today you did not dismiss the simple tasks Jesus put in front you? What would it look for you to simplify your life? Where would Jesus focus your attention today?
Photo by Geoff Scott