When my first son was 6 I came home from work to the news that I was going to be their soccer coach. Volunteered as it were and would be for many activities to come. I had never played soccer, been exposed to soccer, or coached soccer. Come to think of it there were a lot of things that I had never done before children! So, I embarked in coaching my first team of 6 year old boys and girls. To say that I didn't know what I was doing would be an understatement. I figured that they needed to be able to run for a long time so we ran. I figured that they needed to overcome the fear of being hit by the ball. Likewise there were times when we eventually learned to actually play as a team. I continued to coach soccer through my son's high school years. I learned to love soccer and learned the lessons of the game. The players taught me the most. When I look back on it now I realize that I taught soccer like it was a different language that they could speak and understand as well as convey to their teammates. One special area was the training to be instinctive. Don't think, just do. Today it irritates me when I watch a professional soccer game and the players don't instinctively do what is right. Such as switching their kicking foot in order to shoot a goal. More likely than not when they do this the opportunity is lost as the game is fast and hard as well as unforgiving.
We do a lot of things in life that don't require thinking. Breathing is a good example. We rush to the aid of our injured children and sometimes put ourselves at risk for their safety. We don't think about that either. We drive our cars instinctively and are sensitive to our peripheral vision and react to things we don't consciously "see". We instinctively react to criticism, praise and the absence of same. The ability to be trained in a specific field is more about having that training produce a "first" language so that the training we have had is instinctively applied to our work or calling. Instincts are a language that God has given us to make our way through this world. The manual has been written that programs this instinct and it's called the Bible. I am not good at quoting chapter and verse of the Bible. I am good at being able to tell you what the Bible says and approximately where to find it. I've read through the Bible many times, read and reread different books of the Bible, did studies about specific topics and taught same. With the Christian this is all training so that when presented with the quandary we are able to "instinctively" rise to the occasion. Making our Christian walk a "first" language allows us to relax and let God rise through us to meet the situation and deal with it from a Godly perspective.
I love to garden. I've done a lot of gardening, landscaping, and plant husbandry. When I walk my property and have my pruning tools with me I instinctively know which limb to cut and which to prune. There is a difference. The Bible says it's no different with us. As we continue to submit our life to God he removes limbs or cuts prunes those he wishes to take a specific direction. When I see my fruit trees in the summer and fall with their shoots going straight up, I know that they are going to be cut while other branches will be pruned. The purpose of which is to produce a better and larger crop of fruit. The same applies to removing weeds in the garden before they go to seed. So, why am I so hard for God to train? The simple truth is that sometimes I think. Thinking instead of instinctive doing leads me to my will and not God's. I know what the Bible says, where God has led me and for the purposes he has me continuing here on earth. I don't need to switch feet to shoot a goal. Either one will do. I don't need to ask the doctor for help for a previously dealt with problem. I already have that answer. I would suggest that we think so that we can avoid surrender to God. By doing so we remain in charge an that's a branch that needs to be cut off. Do you live a life surrendered to God? Are your days filled with thinking or are they run on instinctively knowing what God has for you to do and be? It's always your choice.
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