I was reminded of that familiar line from the greatest sermon ever given: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
There are more than a few lessons we could learn from that part of the Sermon on the Mount. But one of them is a simple principle.
Most people spend their lives going down the wide road of mediocrity. Most people continue to ask these kinds of questions: “What have I got to do to get by?” “What have I got to do to keep from losing my job?” “What have I got to do to keep from losing my marriage? “
What have I got to do to keep from losing?
I saw this very clearly when I played high school basketball. When the game was on the line and there were only a few seconds left, most people didn’t want the ball. They simply did not want to risk being the goat.
They could not be a winner because they were afraid to lose.
I believe there are at least two lessons we can learn from people like Tiger Woods.
To first lesson has to do with the path we take. We must chose to walk down the narrow road. But we must know we won’t find many folks on that path. We show up earlier, we stay later, we work harder. We set the standard. We never ask the question, “What have I go to do to get by?”
The question we should always be asking is, “What have I got to do to be the best?”
Secondly, we will never be a winner unless we put ourselves in a position to win. We have to be willing to want the ball on the last play of the game.
We have to be willing to lose. We have to be willing to walk out on the limb.
And sometimes we will lose. And sometimes the limb will break.
It is a path we can choose.
And it is the only path to greatness.
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