1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits.
3 Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
God is calling us to a life of surrender - in every area of life. That's the challenge, that's the goal, and it's important that we have an attitude of humility and submission to Christ. If our hearts are lined up with the heart of God, that will motivate us to work hard, not in our own strength, not reliant on human effort for a temporary human outcome, but in the strength that He gives, bearing eternal fruit for His glory. We are one with Him, and He desires for us to move in Him and for His Spirit to move in us.
We are called, as believers in Christ, to have an attitude to pursue excellence in whatever we do. I believe that because we want to glorify Him, we will be motivated to do our best. Colossians 3 says:
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
The announcement was made recently that the NFL has named its first female official. It's Sarah Thomas, who is a 19-year veteran of officiating who has spent 8 years doing Conference USA games, according to a piece on the NFL.com website.
In an interview, she is quoted as saying, "Knowing that the journey an official goes through...pee-wee, high school, if you're fortunate enough to even go to the junior college level, small college, Division I, then of course the National Football League. But you never dream that this would really come true." She was also the first female official to work a major collegiate bowl game, and had recently done some minicamp practices.
A story on the NBC Sports website quotes Thomas: “I’m here because of years and years of preparation and hard work,” adding “The speed will be an adjustment but the developmental program that we’ve been involved in is a tremendous training ground for officials. I’m honored that I had two years in that program and hopefully that will transition me to the National Football League.”
But, there's a spiritual side to this former athlete from Pascagoula, Mississippi, who played basketball at the University of Mobile and was an All-American Scholar Athlete. Here's an excerpt from a story appearing on the Mississippi Christian Living website last year, referencing her being the first female official in a major collegiate game and major bowl game:
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We are called, as believers in Christ, to have an attitude to pursue excellence in whatever we do. I believe that because we want to glorify Him, we will be motivated to do our best. Colossians 3 says:
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
The announcement was made recently that the NFL has named its first female official. It's Sarah Thomas, who is a 19-year veteran of officiating who has spent 8 years doing Conference USA games, according to a piece on the NFL.com website.
In an interview, she is quoted as saying, "Knowing that the journey an official goes through...pee-wee, high school, if you're fortunate enough to even go to the junior college level, small college, Division I, then of course the National Football League. But you never dream that this would really come true." She was also the first female official to work a major collegiate bowl game, and had recently done some minicamp practices.
A story on the NBC Sports website quotes Thomas: “I’m here because of years and years of preparation and hard work,” adding “The speed will be an adjustment but the developmental program that we’ve been involved in is a tremendous training ground for officials. I’m honored that I had two years in that program and hopefully that will transition me to the National Football League.”
But, there's a spiritual side to this former athlete from Pascagoula, Mississippi, who played basketball at the University of Mobile and was an All-American Scholar Athlete. Here's an excerpt from a story appearing on the Mississippi Christian Living website last year, referencing her being the first female official in a major collegiate game and major bowl game:
But none of these firsts would have ever happened without a solid foundation based on Jesus Christ, set by her parents, Donna and Spencer Bailey, in their home and at Arlington Baptist Church in Pascagoula.
“My parents instilled Christian values and principles [sic] to us (she and her brothers Lee and Scott) at an early age, and we attended church regularly and were always involved there,” Thomas said. “Church was very important to us and having Christ in my life has been important in all areas, including being an official. I accepted Christ at age 12 and was baptized by pastor Howard Taylor. I watched how my mother and father handled daily situations over the years, and also my grandfather (J.E. Upton) gave me guidance and told me to give God credit for all He has given me. My Aunt Patsy (Tolleson of Madison) has also been a great inspiration for me and a wonderful listener.”She says, “I wouldn’t have been able to get to this point without a strong faith," adding, "I have a sense of peace about me. I pray that God will give me a clear mind to do a good job as an official. I also pray God will protect my family while I am gone officiating out of town. God has given me humility, patience and the ability to be diplomatic and to control what I can control and not worry about things I can’t control.”
Sarah is married with 3 children and the family resides in Brandon, Mississippi.
Three words for us today as we ponder this path that the NFL's first female official has taken:
Preparation. The success of Sarah Thomas in the officiating field did not occur overnight. She worked on a variety of levels, including 8 years in a major collegiate conference. She was part of the developmental program for the NFL for 2 years. She was honing her craft and involved in following a methodical path, and doors opened for her as she continued to be faithful to it. It's the same for us - in an age of instant gratification, a step-by-step application, being faithful at one level, learning, growing, moving to the next - that is the pathway to excellence. If we are not faithful to do our best, it short-circuits our degree of success in that chosen pursuit.
A companion word would be perseverance. How we need that these days - we have to guard against trying to take the shortcut to our goal. We also have to guard against discouragement when the success we seek does not occur when we think it should. As believers in Christ, we devote ourselves to trusting God - as Sarah Thomas says, we can control what we control and not worry about what we can't. Unfortunately, we can get caught up in what we can't control, try to take matters into our own hands, and end up coming up short of where God wants to take us. So, we pace ourselves under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
A final word for today is prayer. Sarah says that she prays for a clear mind to do a good job. This can be a great challenge for us as we seek to do good work for the Kingdom. We honor God when we work hard and do our best, but the overriding attitude should be that we are seeking to glorify Him and allowing Him to work through us to produce His desired fruit. So, we can pray that we would move in perfect harmony with the Father, that He would give us the ability and direction to do our jobs well, whatever we set our hearts and hands to do.
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