The Spiritual Athlete: Mental Training (Guest Writer – Steve Davis)
May 24, 2011
Dear Friends,
My dad is a very good golfer and when I was a teenager, he taught me how to play. In addition to learning how to drive, chip and put a golf ball, my dad taught me how to survey the course. Once, when we were standing on the first tee, he said, “Look over there –that’s the green for the second hole. See where the pin is placed and figure out where you want your ball to land so that you have an easier approach to the green”. He was teaching me about visualization.
Jack Nicklaus once said, “I never hit a shot without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. The next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality. Only at the end of this short, private Hollywood spectacular do I step up and hit the ball”. (1)
Terry Orlick is a sports psychologist who has worked with some of the very best athletes in the world. In 1980 he wrote about the importance of visualization. “Athletes who make the fastest progress and those who ultimately become their best make extensive use of ‘performance imagery’”. (2) Orlick’s idea was said to be groundbreaking at the time. Or was it?
More than two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ used this technique. Jesus used visualization to help him during the darkest most difficult day in his life. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus saw the joy that was before him. Our lord used his vision of the Kingdom to help him overcome everything from the shame of being taunted to the pain of the cross. Visualization helped him endure to the end, and it can help us too.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.(Hebrews 12:2)
As “Spiritual Athletes”, one of the first training techniques we should develop is that of a clear vision.
What’s the joy that is set before you? This question was asked several years ago at a youth Bible Study conference. The teens filmed a video where they each briefly described one thing they were looking forward to in God’s coming Kingdom. The answers were all different and this motivated me to ask the same question to members of our congregation in Boston. The sister dying of cancer looked forward to a world when there will be “no more death or sorrow or crying or pain”. The brother who fled the war-torn Congo looked forward to the day when “men would not train for war anymore.” The sister confined to a wheel chair looked forward to the time when “the lame will leap like a dear”. There are many scriptures that can help you develop your vision. One day soon, these visions will become reality when a cry goes up triumphant, “The lord has come at last!”
Coaches tell their athletes that developing focus and a vision is the cornerstone of training. While strength and endurance training are important, mental training is where it all begins. Here’s what the Apostle Peter says,
Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.(1 Peter 1:13)
Have a great week,
(1)Nicklaus, Jack. Golf, My Way. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998 (2)Orlick, Terry. In Pursuit of Excellence. Champaign IL: Human Kinetics, 1980
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