
These days baseball practically goes until November. Yet people wax nostalgic about it. And why shouldn’t they when the late commissioner of Major League Baseball and philosopher, A. Bartlett Giamatti penned these words in Take Time for Paradise.
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.

It too is a long season. And this has helped me realize once again that sports demand a lot of us—physical strength and mental fortitude. When one is a member of a team, time is not their own.
I have known a few athletes who were upset to play in post-season contests because they were exhausted. They would have been satisfied had their season ended after the first round of the playoffs! Part of me was disgusted that such talented athletes were lacking a competitive spirit. The other side of me understood exactly what they said.
Therefore, I think a prayer a student read in class last week is an appropriate one for all of us. Whether we are a member of a sports team or have a demanding job, we all need a little boost to keep us motivated from time to time. Why not seek the Lord’s assistance in this time of need?
A Prayer for Self Motivation
Omnipotent God, vitality of life, Your strength supplies my motivation. I am stirred in the path of Your Will. Maintain my self-motivation to always Search, find, examine, will and act Upon the truths placed before me. May I become a driving force for others, Encouraging them to pick up their crosses And follow the virtuous road of life. I thank You for Your continued vigor That coexists in my whole being, My soul, my spirit and my body!
Photo Credits
Self Motivation
2011 Heisman Trophy
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