Intentional

I love basketball, most of the time.

I love the squeak of the shoes and the adrenaline that courses through a gym during a close game.

I love the mouthing of the fans (in most cases) and the bounce of the ball on the hardwood floor.

I love close games, especially when I really have no emotional investment in the outcome (i.e., now that Wallace isn't coaching the ending doesn't really impact the emotional barometer of our household)...

Except when the last two minutes take ten thousand hours.

You know, if you're a basketball fan...

the team is behind by four or five and they think if they put the other team on the free throw line the player will miss because PRESSURE and then they'll get the rebound and have a chance to make up their deficit...

so the point guard rolls the ball up the court and then they stage a dance behind the three point line as the other players spread the floor and run a four corner offense to play keep away.

Inevitably, the point guard just won't be graceful enough to dodge the bullet, and usually his jersey gets pulled and it sends him to the free throw line.

The player totally meant to foul him, to stop the clock and get him on the line, but that's not how it's called.

Although sometimes in the game, if a player lunges at another player and performs a "flagrant" foul, it's called for being intentional.

What's the difference, I've often wondered? I mean, I know one is out of bad sportsmanship and could quite possibly injure someone, but intentional is intentional, right?

Or is it?

Because in life, we often set out to do things, but get sidetracked. Distracted. Our intentionality goes out the window as we have to change our plans.

Or we swipe at something, hoping that it will fall in our lap.

We hold our breath and pray that what we want will just happen.

We put everyone else on the free throw line and hope that we can get the rebound and then finally do something to gain ground...

but they make the free throws, and we are left struggling to even the score.

Just praying that something will happen isn't good enough.

And truth is, sometimes even when we swipe our arm to grab that other person's jersey, we'll get it wrong.

Being intentional takes effort. We have to want something... and not just say we want something, because often acting is the hardest part.

So tomorrow, think about what you want. Think about how you'll gain ground, and step up and do something about it. In this case, it's ok to be flagrant...

because usually the refs don't make the right call, anyway =)

Linking up today with Five Minute Friday (one day late) where we write for five minutes, unedited, on one prompt. The prompt this week is Intentional, a good word to be thinking about at this time of the year, because if we aren't intentional in how we work toward our goals, we certainly won't be successful.