The Sweet Spot
THE SWEET SPOT
A Focus of Discipleship
Golf became my game of choice, however when I first started I could play at all. I did at least look the part. I didn’t understand the etiquette if the game nor what to do on the green when you made a putt. I just didn’t understand the game, but I wanted to be apart of it.
It was frustration at first, I would get all out of sorts to the point that I would throw my clubs, bang them against the ground, I even threw a very expensive club right into the water just because I didn’t know how to hit it. Isn’t it just like most of us in life when you are novice with regard to nay discipline of life. Rather a new teacher, playing sport, going to school, getting married for the first time, new baby, or a new Christian.
Nothings happens without setup, practice swing, balance, then repeat and repeat again.
Point to Ponder….Once you understand the sweet spot. You will be able to discern that particular communicating sound from the club that lets you know you have swung the club correctly.
The Sweet Spot
If you can drop a ball on your club face and it pings back at you, then you’ve found the sweet spot. The sweet spot is usually in the center or heal of the club. In technical terms the club face has an optimal flex point. When the ball hits that point, it’s known as the sweet spot.
There is nothing like hitting the sweet spot. What’s amazing is that you’ll know when you strike it. You get that feeling that comes through the club face up the shaft and into your grip. You’ll also come to recognize the ping whenever you hit the right spot.
If you can hit the sweet spot you’re going to become an incredible golfer. Sadly, it’s unlikely you’re going to do that on every time.
A beginner will find it difficult to hit the sweet spot
What happens outside of the sweet spot?
Outside of the sweet spot, the ball distance will decrease as there is less transferred energy, and the ball will begin to spin. The more you move away from the sweet spot the shorter the ball will travel. The effect is also for the club to twist as you strike through the ball, reducing the energy to the ball. When you hit outside of the sweet spot you’ll know because the vibration the club makes will come through your hands. The closer to the sweet spot the less vibration.
How do I find the sweet spot?
This is a great question, but not an easy one to answer. With lots of time spent at the driving range, you’ll make improvements in your swing, and striking the ball better will become second nature.
Follow through every time
When you strike the ball, it’s not over! you need to complete the swing by following through to the end. By committing to the full swing, your body will be in the right position when you start the down swing. You need to get into the habit of completing the follow through every time. Watch any professional, and they always follow through, and hold that end position for a couple of seconds, before relaxing.
Don’t look up
It’s tempting to see where your ball is going as soon as you’ve made contact. Many new golfers suffer from this mistake. You’ve hit the ball and you’re impatient to see where it’s going, that split second will harm your follow through and ultimately put you off balance.
Point to Ponder…Keep your eyes focused on the ball, and don’t look up until the ball has left the tee.
The right grip
You need to get personal with your club, that is to say, you will feel the shot through the club when you strike the ball. I can feel through my hands when I’ve hit the sweet spot, and I know when I’ve hit the heel or topped the ball. Each shot will feel different, and you’ll come to recognize when you’ve hit the ball correctly and when you’ve sliced it.
Keep it balanced
These tips will help you keep your body balanced throughout your swing. Practicing your stance every time you pick up a golf club will help you ultimately find that sweet spot. If anything in your swing is off balance, you’ll find that you won’t strike the ball correctly, and you’ll be looking in the weeds.
Swing Repeat Swing
“Only practice makes perfect”, (Mature) and although that’s not entirely true, it’s as close as we’re going to get. Heading over to the driving range and repeating your swing over and over is your best way of hitting that sweet spot over and over.
I’ve spent more hours than I care to remember at the range, hitting ball after ball. It’s the repetitive nature that teaches your body the movements it needs to make to try and make that perfect shot. It’s the only way you’re going to improve.
This brings me to my real point I want to communicate. We are all trying to live our best life ever, so we say. But what are we really doing? How much time do we really give to the desires that either take us away form our vision or pull us towards them. You are governed by one or the other trust me.
The Apostle Paul admonishes us, “Do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). What is “the flesh”? The word, used frequently in both the Old and New Testaments, wakens such vivid images in the modern mind that its scriptural significance is often lost. The scriptural term “the flesh” refers to neither the body, nor the emotions, nor sexual desire. The body can be good or evil, depending upon how and for what purposes man uses it. “The flesh” is always bad. Similarly, “the flesh” does not refer to the emotions.
God gave people emotions to act as our servants. Compassion aids love; fear aids caution and prudence; anger aids strength and determination. Neither does “the flesh” mean sexual desire – the most common modern understanding of the term. Modern advertising displays flesh to rouse sexual desire, but Scripture means something else by “the flesh.” The body, the emotions, and sexual desire can each express the disordered tendencies of “the flesh,” but they are not in themselves “the flesh.”
“The flesh” means human nature separated from God, functioning apart from him and thus acting in opposition to him. The desires and plans of human beings estranged from God oppose the desires and plans of God. This conflict between God and the flesh clouds every sphere of human activity.
READ.. The works of the flesh listed in the fifth chapter of Galatians include sexual, social, and spiritual sins, and this passage is by no means a complete listing of all wrongdoing traceable to “the flesh.” The flesh – frail human nature tainted by sin and accustomed to acting independently of God – is in itself a source of wrongdoing and personal problems in the lives of Christians.
The basic Christian Maturity is concerned with detecting the sources of personal problems. One source of difficulty is the “world” – an environment hostile to God.
Christians acquire values, ideas, goals, and patterns of relating which are contrary to God’s plan for human life. This worldly influence confuses Christians and aggravates such problems as loneliness, fear, competitiveness, and depression. To counteract the influence of the world, Christians should become joined to a Christian community. Satan and evil spirits can also cause personal problems. People are largely unaware of the influence Satan has on their lives, just as they are often unaware of the world’s influence on their attitudes and actions. This ignorance prevents people from combatting the influence of the world and Satan. In other words, both the natural and spiritual environments which people inhabit contribute to their personal problems. But as Christians rally their strength to do battle with the world and the devil, they find something wrong. Another enemy force lurks within fallen humanity. As people attempts to marshal their resources, they discover the enemy within a stubborn, unruly, independent self – which Scripture describes as “the flesh.
? What if you could surrender trying to be ‘good enough’ or trying hard to arrive somewhere you think you ‘should be?’
Oftentimes, these goal-minded approaches can lead us back into the same loop we have been trying to untie since childhood. But what if the need is not about being good enough” or to thinking you have to be like another. But simply surrendering to the process
What if the need is to fully step into your authentic self?
In moments of doubt or perceived failure, I find it helpful ask myself: “How can I be more aligned to my soul or my higher purpose today?” or “What can I let go of right now?” You must understand first that now as I define it is simply understanding that God gave us 86,400.oo seconds in the one day = Now= No Other Way= WON
I believe our personal work is to express who we are in Christ by emulating the embodiments of His persona. With patience in this process. While awaiting that nebulous breakthrough there is also something else to allow. To allow ourselves time to explore who we really are. Maybe you don’t know yet. Maybe you haven’t let HIM. In the effort to be good enough we often miss the journey of who we could be now.
Its time…time to live in your sweet spot exploring hidden parts of your divine self you were created to be.
Are you willing to get intimate with Christ? Do you dare to release the wonderful being that could be just beneath a protective shield that has hidden you from view?
In each of those moments when you would doubt or criticize, what if you stopped and asked, what can I do to change this situation, what can I let go or forgive, what would make me feel better Now?
The answer will likely be different from asking, what is wrong with me? Because nothing is wrong with you. You just haven’t discovered you were made in the imagine of God. (Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”)
This is how to be well-lived and well-loved – through the journey of becoming on with Christ. Let go pain. Let go shame. Let go hiding. When you’re always trying to be good enough or perfect – it gets rather boring after a while. Pretending.
HIT THE BALL FROM THE SWEET SPOT!
I continue to learn how to live the way Christ wants me to live.
You and I don’t have time to waste time, to wait
I certainly don’t have time to be angry; especially with the people I love the most. I don’t have time to leave things unsaid. I don’t have time to indulge in blaming other people, endlessly processing my feelings, and recycling previous disappointments. I don’t have time to chase rainbows; instead, I chase things I believe I can catch.
During this different stage in my 60’s, life invites me to replace distractions with deeper conversations. When I was a child I spoke as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things/thinking.
Some people miss the invitation—because they are distracted. Some people receive it, but don’t know how to respond. But that can be the starting point. Start exploring what it would mean to have deeper conversations. As you do this, it may scare away some people, but attract others. You will grow deeper, taking you in the direction of the sweet spot. And for those people who aren’t finding the sweet spot? There can be several reasons, but the two most common reasons I’ve identified are:
They didn’t formulate it in the foundational pieces.
They’ve pulled back from life and lost their faith.
This can be defined in the following:
Emotional maturity
This is key. When I developed a certain degree of emotional maturity I am no longer reactive to other people. I take responsibility for my own feelings and behaviors, no longer blaming other people or circumstances for my frustrations. I have a long time-horizon, which creates patience, yet paradoxically; I live mostly in the present. I am comfortable knowing different people have different points of view, so I no longer seek a singular Truth. And, I have learned ways to maturely express my emotions, even those that are immature.
Financial stability
The sweet spot in life is sweeter when I have established a degree of financial stability for myself. I don’t have to be wealthy, but I help myself greatly by knowing that I can survive and be comfortable. If I don’t have this security, I may still have the time to catch up financially, or maybe I need to explore creative solutions—downsizing, community living, or participating in the new “sharing” economy.
Clarity about what we value
If I know what I value I will be able to focus my intentions, increasing my chances of creating what I want in my life. And if I know what I value, I will be able to pay attention—attend to—that which I have, instead of focusing on that which I don’t have.
When Jesus told His disciplines in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” He was implying that His followers live a life dedicated in the pursuit of Kingdom works, concerned with their eternal well-being more than their earthly one.
Wisdom
Wisdom comes as a result of learning from my life experiences and then applying all that I have learned to my current circumstances. When I continue to live in the past—projecting outdated beliefs onto new people in my life—I recreate my old patterns. When I use my childhood limitations as an excuse not to step up to my potential as an adult—I am not learning, I am hiding. When I embody wisdom, I keep asking two questions:
What is an easier way?
How do I want to conduct myself in this situation?
Okay, now let’s explore the second reason why people may miss out on their sweet spot, which happens when they pull back from life and lose their faith.
Lacking purpose
I believe that people pull back from life and lose their fith, in part, because they have outdated ideas about aging. They think that turning sixty means their life is winding down. Often, they stop working, pull back, narrow