Attitude and Effort

When visiting with Coach Meneley at Friends University, Coach mentioned two of the key expectations he focused on when working with players and they were attitude and effort. He mentioned these were two elements which were in the player's control and regardless of circumstances should always be 100%. In life, these are key elements to success in anything we seek to achieve should be applied equally to our spiritual life.

God asks of us to bring a proper attitude and effort every day when studying his word. The apostle Paul scolded the Corinthians because they wanted spiritual "milk" instead of "solid food" (1 Cor. 3:1-2). You will not grow spiritually until you wean yourself off of spiritual fluff and start eating the meat of the Word. Bible study is hard work, but when you dig deep you will grasp revelation from the Holy Spirit.

When speaking with a strength and conditioning coach, he was sharing with me how they had the ability to measure the speed with which a player lifted the bar and adjust the weight so as to insure the player is moving the weight at the same speed. The science was getting so good that even when a player was giving maximum effort the weight could be adjusted to compensate for other factors like an injury or just sore muscles. This technology insures you get maximum gains as long as you control the elements of attitude and effort. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is all the technology we need to insure we are learning and growing with God. The Holy Spirit insures we are getting maximum gains on even our off days. However, we must give as much as we can each day.

Players far to often over underestimate the importance of attitude and effort. It is easy to discount both because they appear to have no measurable and immediate impact. If a teammate cheats on sprints or has a negative attitude toward a drill it does not immediately effect the performance on the team. However, attitude and effort are compounding elements which over time tear at the fabric of the whole team. You must commit yourself daily to focusing on both of these because they are always in your control and you have nobody but yourself to blame for not bringing both with you every practice and prayer.