John Wooden

When John Wooden was a young man, his father gave him a piece of advice that he had written down on a piece of paper that John Wooden carried with him for the rest of his life. (I’m sure he had to rewrite it many times on new pieces of paper, but he carried this advice with himself and tried everyday to live out these simple 7 steps to have a successful life.) Here they are: Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build shelter against a rainy day. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings everyday. Now, that’s some great advice and surely John Wooden applied them all everyday. He because the great college basketball coach to have ever coached the game. But more important than his coaching success was his success as a great man of God, husband, and friend to many people. I wonder if we should write these same seven sentences down, carry them with us everyday, everywhere we go and live them out to find peace and grace with all people we come in contact with. Maybe we should all try it for a week, think about them every morning before we get started out into our world. Before we wake up the children and before we start guiding them out in their life of school and activities. Give thanks everyday – pray for guidance. Let’s pray today for our lives to be a masterpiece and to truly build friendships that other people want to be a part of. Let’s pray!