Hard Work Doesn't Always Pay Off in the End.

A few weeks ago while hauling a high school friend of my sons to a sporting event we were talking about his potential college choices and I made that off handed comment that "even if he ended up in the NBA I would always think of him as the dork that shot baskets during every break in his little sisters basketball games." Recently that same family friend was offered a scholarship to play basketball at large school on the west coast. It was exciting news for the young man and everybody that knows him. When I heard the news I thought to myself all that shooting really paid off. But then I remembered another friend of my sons that also shot baskets during the breaks of his older sister’s games. That friend was done playing basketball by the time he was in 8th grade. Don't get me wrong this young man is also a good athlete. He was in last year’s state tennis meet!!! But in the end basketball didn't work out for him. It was the same thing for both young man. As soon as the whistle blew and the team headed to the bench for a timeout or a quarter break the brother would grab his ball and start shooting until the referee shoed them off the court so that the game could resume. In one case he result was a college scholarship (and maybe more) but in the other case the brother was done playing basketball by the time he was in 8th grade. Why the difference? Why did one young man excel while the other young man was passed by all his peers? Gifts and talents. One had desire and work hard and when it was combined with the body, gifts and talents God had blessed him with I reach high levels. But in the other case hard work and desire weren't enough. He lacked the body, gifts and talent to excel at basketball. What's my point? Hard work and desire are key ingredients for success in what we do in life. We need to study our craft and continuously improve but we are all made with unique gifts and talents. We each need to find what our gifts and talents are and make the most of those gifts and talents. Continuing to pursuit things that we aren't gifted in is a waste of resources. In one case it was basketball and that friend is making the most of it. In the other case it wasn't basketball and that friend realized it. So he went out and found other places that he was gifted in. The bottom line is hard Work doesn't always pay off in the end. Hard work can just be wasted energy if we spend that energy on the wrong things. I understand that shooting baskets during a break isn't necessarily waste energy. It is fun to shot hoops even if big time basketball isn't in your future. But in the larger picture of life how many of us know people that continue to work at a job that they are ill-suited for or know people that continue to expand energy in directions that they aren't gifted at? It can be the same feeling that we get when we work hard on something, even putting in overtime only to find out we didn’t do the project correctly or forgot to get a part so the task can’t be finished. Wasting resources isn't thrifty. Regardless if that resource is time, money or talent. It is important that we are always thrifty with what God has entrusted us with.