Your Aim

If you are around our family very much, you will learn that we love golf. Now, I don't play golf, but I do love to be out on the golf course watching my favorite people play golf. Jacob is starting to get an interest in the game, but Sam has loved it since he was 18 months old. Not kidding. David's dad brought Sam some real golf clubs that he had cut down to fit Sam and since then, the child has loved it. We used to go out on the driveway and he would hit pinecones...then, we started letting him hit practice balls. Last year, he started lessons. Now, David, Sam, Jacob and my dad play golf just about every Sunday. It's a great, fun, wonderful sport.

This past weekend, I went out on the course with them and rode in the cart. Sam drove the cart some and that was terrifying, but a whole other story.

David usually has Sam start about 200-250 yards from the hole. Sam put his tee in the ground, put the ball on top and lined up, ready to hit. He has a beautiful swing. I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom (I would if I had to, but I'm not). He actually won an award last year from his golf class for the best swing. It's really fun to watch him play. So, he lined up, swung his beautiful swing, and hit the ball right where he's supposed to. Looked perfect. Sounded perfect. But, it ended up in the sand trap.

Right before he swung, this is what I heard:

David: "Buddy, where are your feet lined up?"

Sam: "Right at the green"

David: "Sam, are you sure? You are actually lined up to hit the sand."

Sam: "Dad, I'm pointing at the green."

David: "Bud, if you want to go ahead and hit it like that, you can, but I can see that you're pointing straight for the sand."

Sam did all the right things. Perfect, in fact. But, he was pointing in the wrong direction. As soon as David got in the cart, I told him that there was a huge lesson in that.

And there is.

Where's our aim? I started thinking about it over the next few days, thinking about how much we need the Lord to show us and how much we need to obey to have our efforts going to the right place. True. But, really, what should our aim be? If we can be doing all of the right things, and we really think that we are doing it for the right reason, what should it be? I asked the Lord to show me. And over and over again, I got the same answer.

Love.

That's it. If we are doing all the right things, but not loving Jesus and loving those we are serving, it's for nothing. In fact, it may even get us in a trap. A trap that's hard to get out of. I've been there before. The kind of trap that you think you are really great for doing all these great things. The kind that builds up your pride because you looked really great getting there, and someone may have even told you along the way that you were doing perfect. But guess what? It's still a trap and it's really hard to get out of. We need to remember that the works that we were made to do were to point people to the love of Jesus. Not to show how great we are. We were made to love God and love people. Sounds simple, but it's not.

If not for love, we are just obnoxious, prideful, trapped people.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

Lord, help me to love well and to do things with the motive of loving you and loving others. Nothing else.