We learn purely from what we see and experience, and I did not expect a life lesson from the [boring] game of golf!
The summer before his junior year, my son embarked on a maiden voyage to the golf course with his buddy. Nearly every day for the past two years, he has swung a club or practiced his putts. He fell hard for this game. Which is the only reason I found myself on a golf course so many times his junior and senior year.
From spectating two seasons of high school golf I have learned two lessons:
- The game of golf is freaking hard. I had no idea.
- Watching golf is mostly boring, and the same is true of our lives.
Watching your life, what you see is mostly boring. You get up, do something similar to what you did the day before, eat mostly the same food, and at the end of the day you return to bed. Sure, things happen here and there, but our lives are mostly routine.
Only every now and then is there a delightful disruption to the mundane, exactly like the game of golf. Watching golf is somehow exhausting. I think it’s because the excitement is so rare, you have to pay close attention or you miss it.
For example, it is astounding when a player drives a ball perfectly straight down the fairway It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, it is exciting. Or even better, when someone sinks a long putt. Have you spent much time putting? It looks infuriating. A player cannot know with certainty how fast or slow the greens will be, or where a surprise bump might reroute the ball. Why does anyone play this game? I do not understand.
These atypical moments encourage you to keep watching, even though it’s boring. It helps to bring snacks.
Maybe you say: “I prefer a boring life to too much excitement.” I agree, routine is my friend. However, preferring routine can distract you from the rare, exciting moment.
- When a family member trusts you to listen or to extend a helping hand. This can be an amazing, relationship-building moment.
- When you are the one who needs more help, and you must trust that God put people in your life to do that for you. This can be an amazing, faith-building moment.
- When you look outside to witness the graceful flight of a bird and wonder over the aerodynamics of its wings. There is nothing boring about birds – another thing I never imagined I would say! Creation can amaze us all.
May you watch the routines of your life be delightfully disrupted with a glimpse of the non-boring grace of the God who gave you this life, boring parts and all.
Photo by Soheb Zaidi on Unsplash
Lisa Lewton 