Intuition is hearing the whisper of the Holy Spirit speaking into the intangible core of your being. When you hear it and follow it, beautiful alignments take place – often unexpectedly – right before your eyes. When you ignore it, or defy it, you end up looking at the mess you have made – or gotten yourself into – thinking, ‘I should have…’.
Today, while doing some research for a story on street children in Ghana, I used my time on the web to check up my squad (The Toronto Raptors) on The Toronto Star website. There was a story about Coach Sam Mitchell’s message to his team. Rather than read it, I copied it and saved it into the document I was using to collect all of my research. I would read it later on when I had some time. I had a feeling that there was something special in it for me.
A bit later on, after organizing all of the research I collected, I decided to read the short article. In it I found a jewel, and confirmation of how trust worthy that inner-voice really is.
Here is a clip of the article:
His message was simple and to the point in an extended address after a shootaround in Milwaukee: These can be the best days of the Raptors' professional lives as long as they treat them with the importance they deserve.
Mitchell, who spent 13 years playing in the NBA and has been coaching in the league for four, is concerned that his players aren't truly aware of what's at stake at this point in the season; they may know these are big games, but might not know just how big they may ultimately be.
"Young guys, they just tend to just kind of go," he said. "What we're trying to do is keep them focused on what could be and we talk about that all the time.
"Veteran teams know to come in and look at that sheet before the game, look at the standings and understand the importance of every game. They've been through it. But young guys, in their mind, it's just another game. That's why veteran teams have such an edge, they understand. It's no fluke that teams that have been together the longest have been winning."
The message resonated with me. I read the words, “These can be the best days of the Raptors' professional lives as long as they treat them with the importance they deserve”, and I thought of where I am in my life…27 years old, working in Ghana, with a world of possibilities before me; these days can really be the best days of my life (though I also subscribe to the belief that life is supposed to be like good wine, getting better with age).
I then read his comment that “young guys kind of just go”, which was contrasted by the comment, “Veteran teams know to come in and look at that sheet before the game, look at the standings and understand the importance of every game”. And there I saw another parallel. It may seem early in the season, but today counts as much as any other day.
As for studying the stats and the standings, that for me is our goals, dreams, plans, and hopes: it is where we are at and where we need to be going. It is where the world is headed, where those who have gone before us have reached, and it is what our mentors have to offer.
Taking a comment team rookie Tony Parker summarized it all:
"I think he's just saying, `Seize the moment, this is the opportunity,'" said Parker. "Not to think about later, not to say, `We'll pick it up at a certain point, it's still the middle of the season.'"
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