Who are you listening too?

There are so many voices out in the world that you can easily get distracted and miss the best parts. It is really important that we pay attention to the people who can speak truth and wisdom into our lives. For the sake of this conversation let’s call these people our coaches, life coaches.

If you have ever played a sport, been in a band or choir, or even sat in a classroom you should be able to understand the concept of a coach. They are the people who see what we can do, ask us to do more, and are there to pick up the pieces for us if things don’t work out.  Most of us have at least one person in our lives who immediately comes to mind when you say coach. They were the one person who “got us” and they inspired our best and we would do anything to make them proud. The good coach understands the power of their voice and uses it with wisdom and integrity. Some however, don’t. When you find a coach who can pull from you an inner reservoir of strength or who can develop in you a desire to succeed beyond your farthest dreams, you have found a voice worth listening to.

We are blessed to have some great coaches in our lives currently. I want to acknowledge them for their words of wisdom and levels of inspiration in our lives.

First, let me acknowledge Gary and Marvia Robbins, aka mom and dad. They are amazing coaches in my life. Some of you have had the privilege of meeting my parents and others of you have only heard of them through my stories. They live their lives grounded in The Word, floating on prayer, and looking toward heaven. When I lost my job they were the first I called and the first to say trust in the Lord, He has a plan. They are the voices I call the most often and the ones that I know I can trust to always turn my eyes back to the Lord.

There have been other great coaches in the faith for me as well.  Some of them older than me and some far younger. All of them possessed a voice capable of challenging me to stretch my faith.  Doug Burroughs always moved me to a new place of worship. Abbie Stumvoll to a new place of wholeness. And Betty Thom to a new place of trust.

I have had coaches that have given me courage to step out and do things I never thought I would. Coaches who listened to my heart and helped it heal, helped it fly and challenged it to soar. When I was in a broken place voices like Pam Casey and John Lupone helped me to love myself and believe in who God had made me to be. When I was venturing out in business they challenged me to be better than everyone around. They were the voices of Ken Clark, Joe LaTerra, and Doug Sexton.

As you can see my list of great voices could fill volumes. I have had some terrible voices along the way as well. They hurt and lied and hurt again. They tore down what other coaches had helped to build and they beat me down. Some of them did it aggressively. They swung verbal sledge hammers at my heart while others were passive not even realizing I had made them a coach in my life. The passive ones peeled away my veneer simply by ignoring my cries for attention. The negative voices had power because I paid attention to them. I gave them credence and allowed them to have affect. I had the power to shut them off but I paid attention and they continued to do their damage.

Paying attention can be powerfully constructive or destructive. In December, Karl swam at his normal monthly swim meet. It was tough meet. His coach was on bereavement leave and he didn’t know where to focus his attention. He was lost without a voice to listen to. His simple mistakes turned into huge mountains he couldn’t conquer. He lost heart and he lost time. His focus was missing. His smile faded and he stopped having fun. Then he swam in January. This weekend proved to me that having a voice to listen too is possibly the single most important part of our lives. When you have someone who is watching and is there to add a voice of hope, a voice of reason and a voice of encouragement you have focus. You can accomplish greater things. You have fun and your smile is wide.  I wrote about coaches today to honor his. She is a voice for him that I can’t be. She takes it seriously. She honors him with her attention and she points him toward a greater goal. I know she loves her job and she is vested in his success but more than what I know is what he knows. He knows that Morgan can help him achieve what he wants. He knows he can trust her. And in the moment when he trusts her voice I know he is learning to listen to what is important. He is learning to discern good voices from bad ones. And he is growing. 

So to all the coaches in our lives who speak from their heart to help ours. I want to say thanks but to one coach in particular, Morgan Cordle, I want to say what words can really express but I will try anyway. Thanks for being something to my son that I can never be. Thanks for speaking truth, wisdom and humor