Be Where You Are

At the end of our practice last week, I spoke to my players about the phrase "Be Where You are". At that specific practice, we had some players focused on other things. Mainly it was a new video game that they wanted to play afterwards and it distracted them from our drills. As a result, their conversations affected the warm ups, the drills, their defense, and their attention span while the head coach or I was talking to them. At one point our head coach said, "If another team challenged our team at this video game, I think we'd get more excited for that than we do to play baseball." Before he even finished his sentence he was interrupted by shouts of excitement by the players, proving what he said to be correct. My post practice message was focused on being your best self in whatever situation you are in. "Be Where You Are" means that while you're at practice, you're only thoughts are on practice. 

In the stage of life where I'm at, I've had to confront a lot of situations where I'm dealing with more than one big thing. Examples in my life right now are school/homework, work, family responsibilities, and coaching a baseball team. All of these categories bring a lot of different sub-categories with them. For example, multiple papers or projects to do for school, having a record breaking day at work with sales and I have to make sure everything is still being done correctly, sometimes family responsibilities include driving 30 minutes to Riverton several times a week, or driving to multiple baseball practices a week. A lot of times, this comes at me all in the same week. Also, I haven't even mentioned supporting my wife in the activity she's involved with at the time. 

Now to talk about "Be Where You Are". If we feel overwhelmed with all of the things God is giving us, I believe that it can be one of a few reasons: 1. We don't have enough faith in God (sometimes in general, or sometimes at the time of the events) 2. We are lazy and don't want the responsibility (again, sometimes in general, and sometimes only in the moment) and 3. When we're confronting one thing, we're distracted by everything else we have to get done. Even in the course of the last year, I'm guilty of all 3 of these. At our baseball practice, our players were distracted by what they wanted to do after practice, and their efforts and performance suffered because of it. It's important that we bring back the One Pitch At A Time concept and take things one at a time. 

When you're at work, GO to work and EARN your paycheck. A lazy worker is only stealing money from his/her company, because no work is being done in exchange for money. When you're at school, get off your phone and pay attention. You're paying a lot of money to be there, so why waste it and not learn anything? When you're back at home with your family, be with your family. I remember being excited when my dad came home each day, and it meant a lot to me when he would spend time with us every night. 

If we confront these situations with faith in God and giving our best effort, we are promised several blessings. These blessings are multiplied when we have the mentality of building up the Kingdom of God at all times. "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. (Mosiah 24:15) And, "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." (3 Nephi 13: 31-33) 

Always have faith in God, because our life situations come from Him so that we may grow and progress. If you don't understand the purpose of a specific burden, ask Him.