The Sweet Spot

The Sweet Spot

Golf is my sport of choice. I fell in love with the game as a boy. I caddied at a private country club near our home. Not sure why it was so appealing to me. I was short and skinny for my age, making it almost impossible for me to carry "doubles"( two golf bags) for 18 holes. It certainly wasn't the money. Maybe it was the manicured landscape and the gentleman like atmosphere that drew me to the game. It was the beginning of my love affair with golf.

Although I have played golf for almost sixty years, I am not very good at the game. I never took lessons, thinking I could master it on my own. When I was a Catholic priest, I was a member of a ritzy golf club for several years. I purchased a new set of clubs to improve my game. Increased frustration with my swing and the inability to control my anger prompted me to give it up for ten years. Now I live next door to a beautiful golf course and play occasionally. I love to watch golf on TV.

One of the secrets to golf is to find the sweet spot on the club face. Golf clubs today have large club faces, allowing the golfer to hit the ball on the sweet spot in the center of the club face. If you are a golfer, you know that if you miss the sweet spot, your ball will go in a direction you never intended. Knowing this has yet to lower my score or my frustration.

What does the sweet spot have to do with life? Like golf, when I find my sweet spot, what God created me to be and do, my life goes a lot easier. You see, God hard wires every human being with gifts: talents and abilities. These gifts are specifically designed for the individual to enjoy and share. These gifts are fairly easy to identify because we are already doing them almost unknowingly. Discovering the sweet spot gives life purpose and direction.

Sound a little weird? Well, I have spent a lifetime trying to make sense of my life. Much of my past made little sense until I saw what God was up to. He had a plan to bring me to my sweet spot. Looking back I see how difficult times, disappointments, fears, depression and rejection were necessary to hone my sweet spot. Now I know what my Father has put into me to be. How do I know this? Because I am doing it with joy and peace. Finally I found my sweet spot and it is sweet.

Here is what the Father says about finding your sweet spot:
    "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.
      Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
      He's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all."  
                                                                                               Proverbs 3.5-6 The Message