Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose! 

I’m surrounded by teachers... my grandma, my mum, my mother-in-law, my wife... all of them were teachers. Since I was a kid I saw the power of teachers and mentors to shape a life, to inspire change, to bring the best out of people. I was blessed with teachers that taught me to think, that believed in me and that pushed me to be better. Yes, of course I had other kind of teachers, but even those taught me important and valuable things- even if it was hard to see at the time! One of my favourite TV series is called Friday Night Lights and focuses on a high-school coach, Erik Taylor, helping his team to navigate the pressures of life. He has a message to his team: clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose! Coach Taylor is a Christian (a Methodist, so as an Uniting Church minister I’m claiming him as ours!), loves his wife (there were chosen as the best example of a Christian couple on TV), loves his daughters and genuinely loves his students. And I love his message. Clear eyes, to his students, means to stay away from drugs, from any addiction that may blurry their vision. In life we also need clear eyes; there are so many distractions, so many things that can blurry our vision and make us forget what is truly important. We waste our time pursuing things that will pass, and we forget the things that are really important. It’s no wonder that in Ephesians 1 Paul prays that God will “open the eyes of our hearts”. Only then we can truly see, and focus on the things that are essential. Our faith, our relationships, our effect on others. Full heart speaks about passion, about giving ourselves fully to our team and our vision. When you heart is full there’s no room for bitterness, for anger, for shame because none of those feeling will help us to reach our goal. In life we need to be careful with what we allow to fill our hearts.  If you fill your heart with negative things, they will show in everything you do. According to the Bible in the book of Proverbs, everything we do flow from our heart. So if we fill it with anger,  unforgiveness, greed, rejection, then we will share that through our words and actions. We are created with potential for good, to be a blessing, to encourage, to inspire. Our goal in life should be to be more like Jesus- to love, passionately and selflessly, the people around us. Fill your heart with life, with light, with love. The outcomes? We can’t lose! Not a football game, but we can’t lose the opportunities around us! We can’t lose the most important relationships around us! We can’t lose the meaning of this life, amazing and complicated as it may be, in all its beauty and pain. We can’t lose our eternal destiny: we are created to be in relationship with God. So focus on the essential; feed your soul with what will give you life; surround yourself with a team that will cheer you on, have your back, fight for you. And remember that you have someone in your life that believes in you, is cheering you on and loves you deeply- God. Have a blessed week!