Learning lesson of discipline from UT-Vandy

I watched Vanderbilt beat the stew out of Tennessee the other night. As a UT grad it was painful. As a Vandy grad, I could feel their joy. But the lesson I picked up had nothing to do with from which school I had graduated or in what order. It was a lesson about playing your assignment or tending to your own stuff.

Over and over again, I watched as backdoor cuts and trailers were used to score points that were virtually uncontested. Why? Because someone blew their defensive assignment. For those who are less informed about the game, everyone has an assignment to guard either an area or a player. If those assignments are met, the other team should have significant difficulty in scoring. If, on the other hand, those assignments are blown, scores by the opponents mount up quickly.

And how are they blown?

Defensive assignments are blown because a player is either cheating over to guard another person’s player or area, or the defensive player is “taking the play off” (being lazy and not getting back to do the work that has to be done). In either case, the inattention to one’s own work, because of laziness or messing in another’s work, results in getting beat, for a play or for the entire game. It is a discipline issue, focusing on our own stuff and not meddling in someone else’s. It is a maturity issue being confident in our own activity and not comparing it to someone else’s.

And there is the life lesson. As my granny used to say, “You have enough to say grace over without messing in somebody else’s stuff.” Or as Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, “Focus on what is right before your eyes . . . Do not dare to compare yourselves with others. When they do it they are not showing good sense. So do not brag beyond your limits and keep to the field God has assigned you.” (a paraphrase of 2 Cor. 10:7-18)

Wow, imagine what all we could accomplish in life if we followed that line of coaching. Think of the time we waste messing in someone else’s stuff. Imagine how much better we might feel about ourselves if we weren’t busy trying to be who or what we are not.

Maybe God made me this way on purpose, . . . for a reason,  . . . maybe even for a task, my task!

Just another thought from the shallows . . .

Dr. Jeff Wilson grew up in Nashville, has ties to both UT and Vandy, and has served as senior pastor at numerous churches throughout the South and in Texas. He and his family now call Brentwood home where they own a business. He also serves on the Brentwood United Methodist Church staff. Click here to read his recent columns.