It happens all the time, even to the best of them. Athletes reach the goals they have pursued for years, maybe even a lifetime, and then they do it. Maybe they feel they deserve it. They think, “I’m now successful, so I can let up and compromise in a certain area of my life. It’s small, and it won’t impact me very much.”

We all have seen the ads about the “Easy” button. Just hit the Easy button and things become easy. I actually have an Easy button on my desk that doesn’t work anymore, because I used it so much. I think the batteries died.

I love the “easy “button,” but I think a better button would be a “New” button — one that gives us a fresh start. We could hit it at the beginning of a year (or month or day) and start over with a clean slate. Wouldn’t that be great? We could hit the New button for lots of things: diet, workout routine, pets, schools, sports teams, coaches, friends or jobs. The list could go on and on.

We all have times when we feel unmotivated to do our work. It’s not that we don’t love coaching, or the athletes, or the sport, but we do get discouraged by what often seems like a fruitless and tedious process. We feel burdened by the monotony of working, and this detracts from the joy that Jesus Christ gave us.

Hockey Chat: You may not remember Ned Harkness when you think of hockey’s greatest, but he truly was.  His name is not inscribed on the Stanley Cup but it is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.  He didn’t run up the scoreboard with goals but filled the hearts and minds of the players with knowledge and passion.