The Birth of a Season

Today a new basketball season is born. Up until now, the new life we are calling a season has been in gestation, slowly forming and developing into what is birthed today when we officially begin a new season. As with every new birth, this one is greeted with much excitement and anticipation. What will she be like as she grows up? How will her life be lived? What great things are in store for her? These are all questions we ask as we gaze into the eyes and right through to the heart of this new season. For right now, this new life, this season, is full of all kinds of potential.

As this life is born today, it is not only exciting to dream about the possibilities that are out there for her future, it is equally inspiring to bask in the presence of today. For today is when it all begins. Today is when we welcome the new life and are excited just to see her on the court.

But she will grow quickly. And before we know it, she will be forming into the shape and personality of the team we will see throughout her life. Those early days of practice will determine much of what she will become. What will her personality be like? What will she be naturally good at? What are areas she will struggle with all her life? Those early times of practice will largely shape those things.

And before long, she will be taking her first steps as the November games begin. Her childhood will go by quickly in those first few weeks of games. So much will be learned and shaped and developed. Habits will be formed and the ability to think on her own will become a part of her life. Hopefully, she will know how to make the right decisions.

Before we know it, she will enter those tough and sometimes heart-breaking adolescent years known as the tournament season when she plays a multitude of games in tense situations. This time allows her to experience success and failure and to hopefully learn some life lessons along the way that will benefit her later in life. We want very much to see her succeed during those adolescent years, but we also know that what she goes through then will help her succeed later in life.

Finally, she is ready to grow up and spread her wings and live her life. All the hard work in her adolescent years are about to pay off. District time will be here. What she did in her early life to prepare her for her adult years of district will either reward her or disappoint her. But this is the important time of her life. This is when she earns the right to later retire in comfort.

Finally, at the end of the regular season, she will face the time to retire. If she does what she needs to do during district time, she will retire into the playoffs and hopefully live a long successful life in retirement. Some seasons die before their time. Others live to be a ripe old age playing into Regionals or even State. How long will she live?

Then one day, as sad as this thought might be, the season will die. Even if the end result is playing for the State Championship, the lifetime we call a season will come to an end and this basketball team’s life will be over. How will she be remembered? Will she be remembered with joy as a team who met and exceeded all expectations and lived a full and wonderful life or will she be remembered as a team who died before her time with unfilled potential? That largely depends on how she lives, from the moment of birth until the end.

But today, we celebrate her birth. We do so knowing that the season is both long and the season is short. In the next five months, this season will live its life and will never come again. So as we celebrate this new life today, let’s not just be excited about this new life, let’s remember that it will go by so fast and we cannot waste a day of this short life. May each day of this life be all about getting better and getting closer to our potential.

Enjoy the birth today. It is exciting. But in the midst of the excitement, don’t forget that there is a life ahead to plan for and to live. The season is long and the season is short. Live each day of it to its fullest.