Learning to Follow Directions

As a former boxer, I understand the consequences of not listening to my coach’s directions. He was the boxing equivalent of God. During our quiet moments between rounds, I sat silently and caught my breath while he gave me directions.  “Keep moving, watch out for her right hook, keep your guard up – slip to the side and land that mighty right of yours!”

Thankfully, he also gave me my final words of encouragement, popped my mouthguard back in my mouth and sent me back into the ring to fight the next round. “You’ve got this girl!”

Despite all the valuable instructions, the next round would sometimes go a little like this. Everything my coach told me vanished from my conscious mind. The adrenaline fired me up, the fatigue blurred my thinking, and I got a little sloppy, and I did the unthinkable – dropped my guard and walked right into my opponent’s right hook.

But my coach was steadfast, and he believed in me.  His voice echoed across the ring, loud and clear, above the noise of the supporters, above the throbbing in my head. This time, I heard and finally followed his instructions. I took a deep breath, positioned myself and moved as instructed – keeping my guard up, I slipped to the side, landed my right-hand punch and watched my opponent fall to the canvas.

Unfortunately, I tend to do the same thing with my real coach, my all of life, every moment of eternity coach – God. So often in the quiet times with Him, I hear His directions clearly, I understand what He wants me to do and why, yet as soon as I step back into the battle of life, I forget everything He told me and rely on my own strength yet again.

It never takes long before things start to go wrong; the pain and fear overwhelm me and reality lands a right hook. It’s then that I hear His voice once again, above all the chaos, above all the noise – His gentle encouragement, His gracious reminders.

I’ll admit, God doesn’t yell as loud as my boxing coach, but His words have much more impact. So, in the real world, I get up, take a deep breath, follow His instructions and eventually land the winning punch (metaphorically of course). I guess life would be easier if I followed instructions in the first place, both in and out of the ring.