NHL

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Letting Go And Moving On Isn’t Always Best

When the season changes, letting go of some things and move on to other things is pretty normal.

Letting go and moving on isn't always best

Certainly that’s true with the NHL hockey playoffs. My team is now out and they’re down to four teams. The weather is getting nicer, there are bigger breaks between games and it seems like the playoffs are just dragging on. 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but my daughter was born the night Calgary won the Stanley Cup back in 1989. That was May 25. Now 34 years later we have another month before a team will walk away with the cup.

I’m ready to watch golf Sunday afternoons and not be glued to a TV Saturday nights for the next four weeks.

It’s light outside for longer in the evenings; there is more to do outside in the summer. I’d really be happy if hockey season was over. 

There are so many other things that can take its place – things you can’t do in the winter months.

For me there is golf. I’m looking forward to playing more this season than I have in the past number of years. In fact, I’m playing this weekend which I’m quite excited for.

I’ve also started mountain biking again. I’ve already been out several times. It’s always interesting to bike the trails when the leaves haven’t fully come out yet. You see the trails differently from when everything is lush with colour. I like this transition time.

There are other things as well, like getting to the cottage. 

We spent the last week puttering around Sauble Beach. Though it was too cold to go in the water, it didn’t stop Lily and I from going for a 10 km walk along the beach at sundown. Our first sunset of the season and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

… I will say our legs were a little rubbery when we got back to the cottage. 

New seasons are for letting some things go while picking new things up. However, this year I’m a little sad to let one thing go. 

Next week will be my last hockey game until fall. Yes, I said I was ready to let hockey go, but I meant watching hockey on TV. 

Other years I was also glad when I stopped playing. This year, however, it’s different. I’m sad it’s coming to an end even though I’ve played more hockey this year than I have in a long, long time. 

From February to the middle of April I played 4 to 5 times a week. Since then I’ve played on average twice a week. You might think I’ve had my fill, but I would still like to play a little in the off-season.

It’s a satisfying feeling showing up to a cold arena in shorts and sandals, hockey bag slung over your shoulder. It’s hard to describe, but the contrasts put a smile on my face.

So this year it will be hard to let go until the seasons change again.

Here’s the thing: I’ve been thinking that sometimes we let go of speaking up for God. The world doesn’t want to hear it; there is pressure to keep silent. But I was reminded in my time with God this morning that every voice matters. Whether it’s a quiet voice to a few people or through a new medium, God wants us to keep speaking up for Him. There are many other voices that seek to drown Him out, but as for me, I want to keep my voice being heard. I don’t want to let go of speaking of God’s love and goodness to us all. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you want to hang on to in this new season of life? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Can’t Pick A Winner To Save My Life

It’s safe to say that I can’t pick a winner in the NHL playoffs this year. 

I can't pick a winner to save my life, a coin toss

In fact, if you want to know which team is going to win a particular round, it‘s best to pick the team I don’t want to win. 

Sometimes you just can’t pick a winner and that’s how I am right now. 

If we were drawing straws, I would draw the short one. I feel if I was flipping coins to see how many heads would come up, right now most of the coins would turn up tails. 

Have you ever had a feeling that something was going to happen and then it did? Well, that’s foreign to me at this particular time.

Do you remember when you were a kid at Christmas and you were hoping, hoping, really hoping for a certain toy to be under the tree for you? Then you got to the last present and you were over the moon because you got just what you wanted? 

Well, that is not happening to me right now, and this feeling that whatever I get behind is going to flop, fizzle or fade is getting to be too much for me.

I kind of want to stay neutral; I don’t want to get my hopes up. I just want to coast along and go with whatever happens. 

With that attitude, you don’t bottom out emotionally. You can stay even-keeled and be unfazed at outcomes. Sure, you miss out on some of the highs, but you avoid the deep lows which are far more difficult to handle.

For me this started with the Toronto Maple Leafs exiting the NHL playoff scene really before it began. … They called it the playoffs but really the first round was to determine who would get into the playoffs. The plus side was that the Leafs were one of the teams battling to get in, while other teams didn’t even get that chance.

But that is a distant memory now. Since then, in every series, the teams I have been rooting for, and hoped would advance to the next round, have fallen flat. 

There have been teams I was glad to see ousted from the playoffs, but often in those series I was hoping for both teams to lose (as impossible as that was).

My latest two teams to go down were Colorado and Vancouver. I’ve never been much of a fan of either team, but I had watched some of their games and been impressed. I thought they were winners.

… Heartbreaks on both accounts: Colorado went down in overtime in game 7, after trading goals with Dallas in the third period. Vancouver – well, their goalie stood on his head keeping the puck out until 6 minutes left in the game, when one eventually got by him.

So who do you want to win the next round? Just ask me, and then go with the team I’m not cheering for. 

Here’s the thing: Life is hard to predict. You can make decisions, follow a direction that you think is best, only to find out it’s not leading you to the place you hoped for. That’s why it’s best to have a guide, a counsellor, someone with insight directing your way. God has given us a directional book in the Bible and He promises to give us the Holy Spirit to guide us through life. Don’t take gut-feeling chances with your life and future. Trust in God.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What hope do you have that needs to be given over to God? Leave your comments and questions below.

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What Marks The Seasons Of Your Life?

The change in the seasons is marked in various ways. 

What marks the seasons

For some it is a date on the calendar that moves us from one season to another. For others the weather is a popular, telltale sign that we have entered into a new season.

Some people mark the seasonal changes by events. There are so many of them: the start of NHL hockey, baseball playoffs, and you definitely know fall is right around the corner when the NFL football season starts. 

For me, I take my cues regarding the changing of seasons from all the above. The date, the weather and events all play a part in my sensing that the new fall season has just begun. 

But there is another thing that clearly indicates that we have moved into fall, and that is when my wife, Lily, brings home the gourds.  

I’m not talking about a family with three children all with the name “Gord” – like the two Darryls in the Newhart TV show back in the 80’s.

I’m talking about gourds like pumpkin, zucchini and squash.

For some reason these are the symbol of fall in our home. I’m not sure if it’s because they all ripen at this time or they have a more earthy, dull sky, rainy look to them. 

I’m not saying I don’t like having these gourds around the house. I’m perfectly fine having them displayed in the centre of our kitchen table, just as long as one of them doesn’t go missing for a few hours and end up on my dinner plate for me to eat. 

Gourd food is nasty. Squash is nasty tasting, and I don’t care if you put butter and brown sugar on it to mask the flavour. 

You have to remember that this was a food the pilgrims ate when they first settled in North America. Sure they were thankful for it all then … they were starving at the time! 

If I didn’t have any food to eat for a week, I could probably force down a little squash to keep me alive. 

But listen, those days of being thankful for squash are long gone. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for squash – I’m just thankful that when I see it displayed on the table that I don’t have to eat it. 

Well, the other day after Lily came home from the grocery store, I noticed four gourds proudly displayed on our kitchen table.

I know one is a pumpkin – it’s miniature in size, far too small to make a jack-o-lantern out of. Then there is a yellow gourd and two green gourds … certainly not the colours of spring or summer. 

So now it’s definitely fall. Every possible sign known to man has declared it. We just have to face it. 

We’ll be okay.

And you can be sure I’ll be counting those gourds at every meal and checking my potatoes to see if she mixed some squash in there.

Here’s the thing: Here is an exercise for us as we face a new season. What are the signs that Christ is involved in your life? How many signs of Christ’s involvement in your life can you identify? Does Christ show up every morning in your devotions? Is He around when you have decisions to make? Does Christ show up in your conversations? Take some time and list the signs. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What will it take for you to be fully engaged with Christ? Leave your comments and questions below.

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When You Get Lost in the Change

I get a little lost at this time of year, especially in the evenings. For the past month, there has been hockey on TV pretty much every night.

New old Habit

Often there have been multiple games, extending hockey into the wee hours of the night for us in Ontario. But that has come to an end.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so in the past month, I’ve been in the habit of watching hockey each night.

It didn’t matter if I had a meeting or activity after dinner, when I got home there was always the action, cheers, commentary, and, of course, my red light broadcasting throughout the house that another goal had been scored.

It was comforting; I knew what I would be doing and Lily would know where to find me. I didn’t have to choose between several options or projects when I was home. I was focussed, single-minded. It was a good thing.

… Well, I guess it wasn’t all good. There were some downsides like not being able to follow the conversation Lily was trying to have with me. I found it difficult to look her in the eyes while she was talking when the play-by-play guy was describing how a player just rang one off the post.

All winter I have reserved Saturday night to have a can of Dr. Pepper. It’s pretty much the only time I will drink it. However, with hockey on every night, I had to daily remind myself that it was not Saturday or I’d have been going through a case of pop every week!

But all that has come to an end. I don’t know what to do with myself now, because we are down to only four teams and the games are spread out. I had to watch a repeat of the Canada versus Belarus game the other night and I already knew Canada won 9-0!

I’m finding there is great pressure for me to move away from the TV and find something more productive to do. I keep hearing suggestions and hints of things that could be attended to around the house.

My problem is I don’t have my ready-made excuses to not get at these things. It’s one thing to say, “Sure Lil, I’ll put out the garbage right at the end of the period . . . after Coach’s Corner.”

It doesn’t work any more to say, “Could you repeat that? I didn’t quite hear you” four or five times. Lil knows I’m scamming her.

You see, I just made a habit and now I already have to break it … and that’s why I feel lost right now. My routine is being interrupted; my time must be filled with new things.

I think I just need to be weened off of hockey over a few weeks. And that’s good because the semi’s are on and by the time the Stanley Cup series is done, I think I will be ready to fully embrace golf and mountain biking . . . until hockey starts again in the fall.

Here’s the thing: When a season of life changes or your schedule changes for that matter, it can throw you off from your time spent with God alone. Use these times to refresh your approach to your time with God. Change it up a little. Try to incorporate something that will challenge you and increase your interest and desire to meet with Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What disruptions to your routine cause you to feel out-of-sorts? Leave your comment below.