[Steve Myers] We all want life to be a certain way. We would like things to go smoothly and not have any problems whatsoever. Wouldn't you like that? I know I would. But you know, life doesn't cooperate, does it?
I ran across an interesting book that was called "Play the Ball Where the Monkey Drops It". And it was written by Gregory Jones. What was interesting about the book is it recounts the making of a golf course in Calcutta, India. And at that golf course, they had a problem – they could not get rid of the monkeys, and the monkeys loved the golf balls. So as these people would begin playing their round of golf, the monkeys would run on the course and grab the golf balls and move them, and play with them, and have them all over the place. And so, they had to come up with a new rule when they played golf on this course. And the new rule was you had to play the ball where the monkey dropped it. And as I began to think about that story, that's the way life is sometimes. Because you hit your ball down the fairway of life, and you think you've got a beautiful lie, and everything's going to be just fine, and then when you get there, you find that some monkey's been messing with your golf ball. Well, what do you do? Do you react to that? Do you get mad? Do you get angry? Do you get upset? Do you lose your cool? Do you lose your focus? You see, I believe God wants us to play the ball of life where the monkey drops it.
In fact, there's a reminder about this over in the book of James. James reminds us all the way in the very beginning of the chapter – first chapter of James, in verse 19. It says, "Beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19). You see, what he's telling us here is, whatever life brings, whatever might frustrate you, whatever might cause you to react and get very angry or upset, or maybe get down, or get depressed, or discouraged – realize sometimes that monkey's going to grab that ball. And it's going to be a challenge. And yet, put it in God's hands. Instead of reacting, respond to the situation in a godly way. And so he goes on to say, that when we are slow to speak, slow to wrath, then we can produce the righteousness of God. Because he says the wrath of man doesn't produce those things.
So I think it's important to remember – don't be so concerned about what's happening and what the challenges are, and what the difficulties are. But what really matters is how we respond. So don't be like those people in India who tried to get rid of the monkeys and they just could not do it – they finally realized they could work around it and work through it and get beyond it by responding in a different way. Because it's how we respond that determines our happiness. That's what determines our peace of mind and really helps us in our perspective. So, when you find the monkeys of life have dropped your ball in a place that you didn't expect it, determine to respond in a godly way. And then you can play through the game of life.
