Be a Goldfish
Have you seen the show Ted Lasso?
If you haven’t, that’s okay, I’m going to give you some context for what I am about it say.
Ted Lasso is a show about an American Football Coach from the Wichita State Shockers who accepts a job as a European Futbol (“soccer” as we say here in America) head coach. He knows nothing about the sport but brings a whole new coaching style and philosophy to the organization.
Coach Lasso walks into a soccer club that has been losing for years. The team is terrible and the whole organization has a really bad attitude towards each other. Teamwork doesn’t seem to be in their vocabulary no matter if they are a player on the field or an employee in the front office.
So here comes Ted Lasso, a perennially positive person who can always and a way to see what good can come of a bad situation. He continues to see the greatness in each person even when the individual continues to give more reasons for someone to doubt if they even have it in them to care about people other than themselves. During one practice, a player named Sam is having a hard time letting go of the mistakes he made on the field. When he messes up, he holds it with him for the rest of the practice and lets it drag him down. He is a great player, but he allows those few mistakes to define him.
Coach Lasso calls him over during one of the practices and asks, “Do you know what the happiest animal on earth is? A goldfish. You know why?” Sam says, “Uhh, no” To which Ted responds, “Got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish, Sam”.
Now Sam walks on a little confused, but later in the show, this fact about a goldfish comes back around. This is a reminder to move forward from those small mistakes in our lives. We don’t have to let them define us or be something we dwell on.
Are you stuck on a small moment, conversation, or mistake you may have made and letting it really get to you?
Well, why not try and be like the happiest animal on earth, a goldfish. Accept it, acknowledge it, but then move forward.
I hope this provides you with a little bit of freedom. Too often for myself I will let the little mistakes build up and make a bigger deal of them. Know you are better than this and have a 10-second memory,
Upcoming Dates:
October 29th- Family day at the West Farm Corn Maze 10am (http://www.westfarmcornmaze.com)
October 30th- Potluck. Bring your favorite soup to share after service!
Resources:
Blogs
Halloween on Mission—> How can you engage your neighbors this Halloween?
Books
Sing Loud, Die Happy by Jim Thompson
Singing is one of the most repeated commands in Holy Scripture. It’s right up there with “believe” and “do not fear.” But commands like these can feel vaguely spiritual, intangible, or esoteric. How does singing do its transformative work? Why has God hard-wired singing with such power? What does Scripture teach us about the gift of song? What did the songs of Scripture feel like and sound like? Why does singing awaken something so visceral and emotional within us? And what are the results of being changed by the power of song? Behind all of these questions lies a creative, songful God. He delights in singing. He extends to us a melodic mission. He invites us into intimacy with himself and with his people, and singing is more essential to the journey than we have yet to believe.
To My Friend Who Left the Faith by Wade Bearden
This is a powerful and timely look at what it means to lose faith, and then find it again, Wade Bearden writes a letter to his friend about some of Christianity’s biggest questions. To My Friend Who Left the Faith is an absorbing memoir that “takes readers on a hilarious and moving journey through doubt, suffering, and the power of faith”
Podcast
Ask Me Anything with Pastor JD Greear