Life lessons and a football

So I was innocently folding the laundry the other day when tears started to flow and I began to cry, ya know the nose sniffing, can't see through your eyelashes kind of  cry.  The reason?  Rudy.  Yep, the football movie.  There are a few movies that always make me cry no matter how many times I watch them and Rudy is one of them.  And quite frankly I like watching them alone without the weird looks from my kids so I can cry without judgement.  I noticed this morning a midst my tears that there are a plethora of life lessons in that Hollywood format.  Lessons that I think are important enough to intertwine into my own life.

1. Have a dream - Rudy always wanted to play football, in particular Notre Dame Football, he talked about it, thought about it, dreamed about it.  
2. Take a chance, - Rudy left a secure job, a girlfriend, and his family behind to pursue that dream.
3. Prepare continually - The entire time he is attending the Jr. College he is preparing physically for the dream and goal he has,  he doesn't wait until he achieved the first part of his goal.
4. Find the blessings a midst the trials - Every time he applies to Notre Dame and gets rejected he gets more and more frustrated, but he is reminded that even if he doesn't make the team he has received a wonderful education.
5. Know why you are doing something - He is mocked and put down by the other football players for his 100% effort, but he doesn't let it stop him because he understands why he is doing it.
6. Understand and accept who you are - At the end of his Junior year when he visits the coach he says, "I have come to understand that I will always be on the prep team."  He makes adjustments to his goal, he knows he will never be the star player, but doesn't quit when he comes to that realization.
7. Ask for help - In that same scene with the coach, he simply asks to play, he wasn't going to be able to make it with out help.
8. FINISH - The final practice of the year, he quits.  He is done and feels like there is nothing left of his dream.  He is once again reminded by people around him that can see the bigger picture that it was the journey that transformed him, and he returns to practice and finishes.

The thing is that at end of the movie, during the game, nothing fantastic really happens.  He didn't win the game for them.  He did make a great play, but it didn't change the outcome of the game.  Yet he was carried off the field not for what he did on the field but for what he did off.  They acknowledged his journey, what he had become and what he had given them in the process.

I don't think that your dream has to be big, and the chance you take could be as small as facing your fear of looking foolish, or giving up a little of your time to work at something.  Understanding who you are comes with accepting limitations and sometimes adjusting the end goal.  Ultimately the thing I love and learned the most from my morning was it truly is about the change the happens on the way to the end that means more than anything else.   I am finding that so much time in life is wasted in the dream phase, time wasted in the thinking, and talking stage, without ever doing something about it.  For me it has been really hard trying to figure out what my dreams are, that is where I have wasted a great deal of time, believing that I don't have any dreams.  But I do, I have dreams.  I just need to be more intentional with my dreams and goals.  I need to focus on the change that is happening in the now more than the end result.  I need to be the catalyst for my children, and help them realize all these own things for their own journey.  Can you imagine the power that could be opened up?  Thanks Rudy.