Do You Know How to Finish Well?
Good Morning Friends,
Now that I am 62 I am spending a lot more time around elders and also spending more time around people who play basketball and I am finding that they both demonstrate a means of developing great depth of character. So today as I seek to become a person of character I think it is a good day to learn a lesson from people over 55…it is a good day to learn a lesson from basketball and as I look out on my Florida backyard, to compare them to a lesson from palm trees. Do You Know How to Finish Well?
Scripture: Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7 (NRSV)
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
Psalm 92:1-5 (NRSV)
The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Psalm 92:12-15 (NRSV)
Message: People, like the palm trees in my yard are growing older around me. Like the best in basketball they keep on growing up and up and up. The most prolific palm tree in our Florida yard is the oldest. Today we explore in the palm tree several ways to help us finish well. And there is a message here for basketball Hall of Famers that realize the importance of being remembered for more than their basketball careers in fact for anyone who considers that their careers are winding down. First the palm tree will break free of what binds around it. Before we get too old we too need to break free of the sin that binds us. Before we can take a shot we need to be open. Unlike most trees, palms grow from the inside out and this inner strength gives it the ability to bend not break in a storm… it helps it to flourish in a drought or even a desert…it helps it to survive in a fire. So too basketball is often an inside shot. The best play not against opponents but against the game itself. The hearts of ordinary trees are dead and hollow. The hearts of palm trees are alive. The palm tree teaches us that the outward person is perishing but the inward life can be joyously renewed day by day. The Palm, like us, gets help from the outside.
Pray that as we age we are surrounded by an oasis of palms that give shade to those in need. Pray for those on our team who rebound the shots we miss. Pray that as we age our fruits become sweeter like the Palm Tree. Pray that because we have a life deep within that we will survive to bear fruit even as we age. Pray we maintain a youthful heart. Pray we continue to learn. Pray we keep teaching and dreaming and seeking and fighting. Pray we be determined to finish well. Pray we be worthy of a double honor. Pray we believe, as is reflected in the life of evergreen palm trees, that the best is yet to be. Pray as James Naismith, the inventor of basketball once said, “Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.” Pray we realize that God helps those who know they are helpless.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 