Contemporary Christian singer songwriter Matthew West has a relatively new song out titled “What If?” which challenges us to not be someone who looks back and is forced to ask themselves the question, “What if?” Two little words, but man do they pack a powerful punch. Place a fill in the blank spot at the end of the sentence, “What if ______________ ?” and if you are like me, you could come up with a laundry list of regrets and wishes. With one more month left in 2021 we do not have to wait to make that “New Year’s Resolution” for some change to take place in our lives. We have the ability today to turn our “what if’s” into “I did’s”.
Probably one of the most haunting verses in West’s song shares a fear that many of us can relate to, and some of us still need to wake up to.
“My biggest fear is waking up to find what matters
Is miles away from what I spent my life chasing after
Is my story gonna have the same two words in every chapter?
What if, what if”
It is never a bad time to stop and do a little self-reflection, call it a check up on where you are and what you are chasing. We get so darned busy being busy that we can easily lose sight of what our goal was in the first place.
Parents pack their schedule with do this, go there, be here, be there, run, run, run all for the sake of giving the best to their children. Is that the best thing to do with our time “together”? I don’t have that answer, that one is yours to navigate. Mothers and fathers spend 60+ hours working a 40-hour work week to provide everything, anything that their children ask and many times don’t even ask for. We just think they would love it and we want them to be happy. What if? What if what they really want is to just spend some time with their mom or dad doing something that costs nothing more than a little time. Speaking of work, for those of us that believe the world will stop spinning if we aren’t there in the middle of the workplace making it all spin, it may be time to stop and internalize what we are doing and how we are spending our time. (That one hits home, I’m just saying)
As I said early on, you can fill in the blank after the phrase “What if________?” with just about anything you can imagine. “What if I had exercised a little more? Would I be experiencing the health issues I am right now?” Or “What if I had gone back to school and obtained that technical skill I wish I had pursued when I was younger?” We can spend all of our time boasting about what we “woulda, shoulda, coulda” done, but unfortunately once that ship has sailed there isn’t always a chance to go back. One of the charges I have always told the student athletes I coach is to not be someone who looks back and tells others that you could have done this or that if you would have worked a little harder you would have been all state. It is easy to tell people that you should have gotten that scholarship, and that you would have gotten it but… It is too easy to look back and play the blame game, when in reality, the blame has to sit right there in your lap.
Flat Tire Ministries was created to build hope, and there is hope for those of us that have fell victim to the regrets of misappropriated time in life. Matthew West’s song offers this note of inspriation, “But last I checked this heart inside my chest is still beating well, I guess it's not too late”. That’s just it, as long as you have breath in your lungs and your heart is still beating you can change the direction of where you are headed. Some things may be gone, you can’t go back and rededicate yourself to practice more for your high school wrestling team when you are almost 60, but you can spend more time with your grandchild making sure they get the most out of their ability and focus. Other things in life you can still change your focus and amount of focus that you invest. Relationships, time management with family and friends, career focus, hobbies, pass times, TV time, social media time, or whatever you put in the center of your life time. Those are all things that could wind up being a “woulda, shoulda, coulda” what if statement/question, but you have the ability to shape the outcomes and not be a victim of your own procrastination.
What if I would have given more time to developing my relationship with my Creator? What could I have accomplished if I would have sought His will more for the life that He gave me to live? I tried to give my family all that they wanted, but should I have given them more of the one thing that could impact our grandchildren and their children’s children as my legacy to them? Well the last time I checked I’ve still got a heart that’s beating inside my chest, I guess it’s still not too late!
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” Philippians 3:13-15.
Coach Carter
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