Many years ago when I played on my high school baseball team I remember sitting next to our catcher and I made the remark, “I can’t hit this pitcher.”
The catcher, a lifelong childhood friend, looked me square in the eyes and said, “You will never hit this pitcher if you don’t think you can. Believe in yourself and get away from your doubts.”
These words of wisdom I have never forgotten, and over my span of coaching younger players, I have used my friend’s saying many times.
So many of us allow our doubts and frustrations to get to us and take our sense of accomplishment to a low level. It doesn't matter what stage of your life you are in, if you think you can’t do something then you probably won’t accomplish the task. However, if you think you can do something then your chances are much greater of accomplishing what you want and even more.
On that spring afternoon as I sat next to my friend and after he had chastised me, I was able to walk to home plate with a renewed confidence in my ability. It paid off as I did get a hit and we went on to win the ball game.
I am not saying that everything you are going to try is going to work. I am saying that if you try something the first, second, or third time and it doesn’t work, don’t give up. Remember what Thomas Edison said about his light bulb invention. After 3,000 attempts he found the right version of his success.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time,” is a famous quote from Thomas Edison.
Even in our lowest times when our confidence has dwindled we need to remember what the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
When we are children of God, nothing can take us down but our own doubts.
