What did you shoot?

In the game of golf, the round ends with this final question. What did you shoot? This is your final score for the eighteen holes of a golf round. Generally, responses begin with explanations and stories before revealing the score. If someone claimed they were "going low" and did, they proudly tell their score immediately. "Going low" is a term used when someone improved their personal score. Golf discussions, after the round, range from trouble on a specific hole to the highlights. Overtime you realize golfers share similar experiences the good and the bad. Most golfers (not professionals) have the expectation the round will not be perfect. Even when I shoot a bad score, I reflect on a well-played hole or a great shot, and it keeps me hooked.

Why do I bring this up, how does this relate to life? Look at a golf round like a trial you face or a goal you are chasing. Look at the eighteen holes as a season or day during this trial or race. Each hole is designed with different levels of difficulty. Life is not easy, and everyone will face levels of difficulty. James 1:2-4. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Note the verse says, "whenever" not if, we will face trials of many kinds.

In golf, a bad hole can result from external factors such as a challenging course layout. Also, it can be attributed to internal factors such as poor decisions and pressure. The same applies to our lives. It has said, the most important shot in golf is the next shot. What you do next is the most important decision. No matter how many wrong turns you've made. 2 CORINTHIANS 4:9 | We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Keep going!

At the end of the golf round you have a final score. No matter how ugly your game was, you finished. I've witnessed many talented golfers fall apart after one bad hole. They spiral out of control and can't regain focus on the importance of the remaining holes. They were easily frustrated and stopped taking score or left the golf course. When I'm asked, "What did you shoot?" it means, no matter what happened, I finished. The card I shared below was a decent round for me. Some of the holes were horrible filled with poor shots and bad decisions. The best part was nothing on the scorecard mattered except the final score. The same goes for us in life, the bad decisions and storms that produce setbacks don't mater, just finish your race. Romans 5:3–4 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

Lastly, I mentioned in golf there is an expectation of good and bad days. Yet we (golfers) tend to focus on the good which keeps us hooked. Let's take that mindset to our life? In our trials and sufferings focus on what's good. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8