August 1 is this coming Sunday. And, I have to admit, I’m enjoying this moment in Cincinnati sports.

As of writing this blog, the Reds are still relevant at this point in the season despite a roller-coaster season primarily due to ownership that didn’t want to spend a little extra money on a couple of pitchers and a shortstop.

I mean, who am I to tell the Castellini’s how to spend their money?

I’m nobody, of course, but I think it’s okay to ask an owner of a team valued at $1.085B to not operate like they’re on a shoestring budget and instead operate like they want to win.

But, I digress; this is a joyful post, the team (being the players and managers) are collectively worth rooting for, and here’s to hoping things remain interesting. Maybe the front office will make a deal or two before you read this.

Secondly, Bengals training camp is starting up. And, if you’re a Bengals fan, what’s not to love about the new #9, Joe Burrow?

While it feels like good vibes in the Cincy sports landscape, I mention our beloved teams because athletes, often the great ones, tend to never let themselves enjoy a good moment. And, even when they do, their long-term memory is always hitched to the plays they wish they could have back.

For instance, the aforementioned QB1 for the team Paul Brown built was interviewed by Colin Cowherd in January as a check-in on his recovery progress from an ACL tear suffered in the 2020 season.

(Ah, 2020, a year that felt like one big ACL tear #amiright?)

Anyway, here’s what Joe said when focussing on things he learned from his rookie season:

The last play of the game, we were in a two-minute drill. The MIKE linebacker and the SAM linebacker walk upon the ball. We’re in a 3×1 formation. I had never seen that in my life,” Burrow said. “They just had two guys covering three. I’m like, ‘what is going on, what is this defense?’ They’re in a single high shell, the safety comes down into a quarters shell, and they just play two over three to the field, and I’m watching film, I ended up throwing a pick in the two-minute drill to lose the game. And I’m watching film like, ‘I could’ve just checked to this play. They don’t have enough people over there.’ And so it was games like that, plays like that through my first year were big-time learning experiences for me and I think are going to help me a lot going forward. – Joe Burrow, via James Rapien of SI.COM (January 8, 2021)

Personally, I love that stuff.

I’ll be the first to tell you, and if you know me, you’ll not be shocked; I’m no athletic specimen.

Still, when it comes to what I do well, I can relate to Burrow’s reflections.

I do not like messing up.

In fact, I hate it.

I always remember the mistakes I make, and I do not like repeating them.

Part of growing is recognizing areas we can improve and taking advantage of the opportunities afforded us to improve on our shortcomings.

That said, those of us with this paralyzing perfectionist streak don’t simply move on to the next play as Burrow does in his concluding thought referenced above.

Instead, we become our own worst critics without ever stopping to recognize what went right or, even better, how God has richly blessed us.

We’re about to begin a series in Paul’s first letter to the church of Thessalonica, aptly titled What Are You Waiting For?

But as our teaching team has studied this letter, we recognize that the urgency of the letter, captured in our title, is not one of wagging the finger toward failure with a “shape up or ship out” mentality. On the contrary, the urgency of the letter is shaped by the reality that the church to whom Paul has written has been caught doing honorably well, despite the challenging circumstances they face. Paul simply wants them to stay on target.

If our sole focus in life is on what we’ve screwed up, or what’s been screwed up around us, all the while having lost a sense of what God has done for us and through us, well, it won’t be easy to press forward and win the next play.

I encourage you to join me in doing something I struggle to do: embrace what’s good.

That doesn’t mean blindly accepting shortcomings. Instead, it means having a holistic view of reality. True, God’s sanctifying work in us will not be complete on this side of eternity; but don’t walk through life discrediting the work he’s done in you and through by the power of the Spirit. Instead, let what’s good be the motivating drive to get to what’s great.