Accountability
At the beginning of the season we talked about accountability. Everyone was asked to choose to give up something for the duration of the season. So what did you choose? Do you remember? Have you been successful in giving it up? Sometimes accountability is seen as a bad word, but in reality, if the desire to be held accountable comes from yourself, you will get the most out of yourself through this process. Hopefully the thing you have chosen to give up is something that will legitimately help you. I want to ask you all, as athletes, are you getting everything out of your ability?
We go through season where things change that make it harder to maintain our routines. You are now doing workouts at a different time, you had spring break and midterms, and now daylight savings time, and there have been some changes here in the middle portion of the season. Change is a frequent occurrence as you move through life. After you graduate college and no longer have a coach working with you every day, when you have a job, maybe a family, doing workouts and staying fit gets harder. If you don’t love what you are doing now, you probably won’t do it when the motivation and accountability changes. As I was watching the discuss competition at the last meet, I saw a man much older than typical college age student athletes, but he was competing and doing a fine job giving the young bucks a run for their money. I thought about how much time he must put into his throwing to not only stay healthy and be able to compete, but to do it at a respectable level. Nobody is pushing him but himself. It takes a special driven person to be able to do it without that accountability. I know because I am there now, it is a lot harder for me to work out consistently and at the same intensity as I use to when I was being coached. Because of this, I found a fitness coach online and he has really helped me to be more consistent with my workouts. He holds me accountable.
You can’t just find anybody to call on for accountability, it has to be someone who knows you well, understands the goals you are pursuing and won’t wait around for you to come to them. They should check in with you if they haven’t heard from you in a while, they should be an encouraging person who is not afraid to be honest with you. You also have to be honest with the person you choose, if you don’t desire to be honest, then nobody can truly hold you accountable and you’re really cheating yourself.
From a Christian perspective everyone is held accountable for their sins. We commit sins and there is a price to pay for that. Jesus is our Savior as He died for our sins, thus the price for our sins being accounted for if we accept Him as our Lord. In order for the reckoning to count, we must conform our desires to those of God the Father. It is a matter of will and trust, not a legalistic following of rules. No other way provides such accountability for our sin, nothing else can adequately suffice.
Jesus talked about His returning, how everyone will be held accountable for their actions. He said it will be like this: Read Matthew 25: 14-30, The Parable of the Talents. If we are going to be accountable at the return of Christ, why not be preparing to give that account? Are you getting the most out of what you have been given? Think about what you would like to be held accountable to and who in your life can help you do that.
