“Winners are not people who never fail. They are people who never quit.” ~ Unknown
I was speaking with a friend the other day. We brought up how it seems that so many people nowadays don’t appear to have the desire or ability to commit to anything whether it be a job, personal goals, friendships, relationships, or whatever. I see the lack of commitment in the faith as a real issue as well.
People are not as committed to practicing the faith as they were in the past. They find many excuses to miss Mass, to avoid the celebration of the sacraments especially confession, to pass on invitations to do corporal or spiritual works of mercy, et cetera. These people would not be “winners”. They have chosen to quit. Some have never chosen to begin.
In order to have a strong relationship with anyone, we have to commit ourselves to that person or those individuals. In order to have a strong relationship with God, we have to commit ourselves to Him. That commitment involves doing the things that He asks us to do. We need to worship Him at Mass. We need to serve Him in the poor and needy. We need to make time for Him by visiting the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the tabernacle. We need to apologize to Him (go to confession) when we have wronged Him. The failure to do any of those things weakens and stresses our relationship with God.
Let’s face it, when our relationship with God is strained, our relationship with others generally goes out the window as well. We are not any good to ourselves or others when that relationship with the Lord is strained. We definitely do not feel like winners at those times. We feel very much like losers.
What is a winner? Incredibly, we don’t have to have a perfect relationship with God to be a winner. We just need to be working on it — always working on it — in order to have winner status. Winners fail at times. That much is true. However, winners never quit. That is the difference between winners and the rest of the world.
FAITH ACTION: Don’t give up on your relationship with God. Do what you need to do to remain faithful to Him.