"It's Not Fair"

My basketball team has never had girls that made you shake in your boots. They have always been short (besides me) and tiny. And as you can probably guess we have had problems with our attitudes once or twice. "It's not faaaaaaair. They're so much bigger than us!" Every game when the other team would walk in we would all cower in fear as we saw how unfit we were to play. But this year one of our coaches thought ahead.

In our first practice Coach Moore sat us all down and used his communications degree to convince us of the deep message behind Brad Pitt's incredible acting in Troy. And although I will never admit this to him, Coach Moore taught us something that day that I will always take with me. Coach Moore told us that Brad Pitt, who was playing Achilles in the Trojan War was supposed to fight this huge giant. And this was the conversation between Achilles and a young messenger boy when Achilles was about to leave for battle.

Messenger Boy: Are the stories true? They say your mother was an immortal godess. They say you can't be killed.
Achilles: I wouldn't be bothering with the shield then, would I?
Messenger Boy: The Thesselonian you're fighting... he's the biggest man I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him.
Achilles: Thats why no-one will remember your name.

 For the rest of the season we always thought back to this story, rather than freaking out about the size of the other girls we started focusing on what we could do to better ourselves. And we had a pretty great season.

We realized that in order to be great, and for anyone to ever remember our name, we would have to fight without hesitation. We don't have to fight without fear, another part of the movie someone asked Achilles if he was nervous, he replied simply, "Petrified."

I think about this story almost on a daily basis when I go to school and sit down to start at work. I have already finished all of my freshman classes and have started most of my sophomore classes. Doing work so far ahead can be really daunting and it's hard to remember that I am capable of doing all of it. As soon as I start to think, "This isn't fair." I take a step back and think about the fact that if I ever want to be remembered I won't  think of it as fair, but an advantage.

Can you imagine living the life of a legacy like David or Peter? People so in-tune with God and His power. It's hard to remember why you do all of this work. The truth is, Nobody ever said that life was fair, it's really not. There are bad people in the world, they will make your life harder, but it's your decision how you act toward them.

So when you have three or four hours of homework every night, remember that there is someone, somewhere who has none and they have nothing to complain about, but nobody will remember them. Every time you face something that seems impossible, that is a chance for you to prove to the world that it's not. Give hope to the people behind you, make things look easy, don't boast. Complete the task and move on to the next, trust me, you will be rewarded.

I understand that this doesn't really explain how to get through situations that don't seem fair. But the most important part of every solution is your attitude while resolving a problem. When you have a good attitude, it's easier and more fun to do the hard things. There are things in life that you simply have to do but when you're willing to do it, the "have tos" become "want tos".

⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the best from the land.
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
    you will be destroyed by swords.”
    The Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 1:19-20

When you are willing and obedient you get the best. Being willing is not complaining, or talking about how you shouldn't have to do it. 

In the end, when you are being cheerful about the hard things, the time spent working seems much shorter than the time being blessed for your obedience.

Peace out Broskies!