Audience of One

Top three things I wish I could tell my younger self about playing soccer.

1. First, is that we always play for an Audience of One. God delights in watching us play because we are His children and He has given us a skill. He loves soccer and He loves watching us do something we love.

2. Two, our identity is not in how we perform or play. We are always children of God and that can never change whether we have a good game or a bad game. At some point your soccer career will come to a close. Whether that’s at the end of high school or college. It’s good to see your identity as separate from soccer now.

3. Third, soccer was never meant to give us what we really desire. We always want it to give us meaning, make us feel great and leave us with the same feeling we have after we score the winning goal each time we walk off the field. But it can’t because it was never meant for that. We have bad games, we lose or we get injured and soccer can’t give us what we desire. Only God can do that. And when we find our deepest needs and desires met in Him first, then we can go to soccer and not seek those things. We can approach the game as it was meant to be and enjoy playing for the time that we have. And play like we will in heaven.