Everyone feels disillusioned at times

Some lessons in life are learned through faith and trust. I was reminded of that recently as I sat on my deck and tried to peer through the early morning fog. I thought about the possibility of boats on the lake and wondered if they could see ahead.

It brought to mind a time when I was an alternate on the college golf team. The coach called me to say that one of the regular members was ill and that I would be playing in his place. She instructed me to go to the practice tee and hit some golf balls to warm up. Obediently, I moved in the direction of the practice tee, but I was wondering how I was going to benefit from any practice that morning. A thick fog surrounded me making it impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. As the coach approached, I mustered enough courage to ask if I had heard her correctly. She understood my indecision, but matter of factly said it really didn’t matter if I could see the path of the ball. I needed to concentrate on my form and hit the balls until I felt that I was hitting well.

Although this seemed strange at the time, I followed her instructions. I began to concentrate on my swing and the feel of the impact of the club head on the ball. As most golfers know, there is a tendency to prematurely look up to see where the ball is going, thus spoiling the shot. This was one of my bad habits as a novice golfer. But during this early morning practice session the grey void into which I was hitting, the lack of any possible feedback, helped me keep my head down.

I continued to concentrate on the elements of my swing, but I was still frustrated because I was not able to follow the path of the ball. Still following her advice, I hit all of the practice balls until the starter announced that players were to begin.

By the time we teed off, the fog had begun to clear. The coach had suggested I continue the same smooth swing she had observed during my practice time in the fog. Again, trust and faith in her coaching made me follow her advice. Not only did I keep my head down, but the for the most part I refrained from worrying about the distance the ball was going to travel. That is another fault of beginning golfers – we tend to hit the ball too hard. I did improve and eventually secured a place on the regular team and benefited from this whole experience.

There are times in almost everybody’s life when we feel we are hitting the ball into the fog. In our daily routine we keep hitting the ball, but we become frustrated because feedback is an important part of the learning process. Consider the salesman when things are slow with no visible customer to comment on his product, the chef of a new restaurant who doesn’t know if his customers like his culinary efforts or the writer who sends out manuscript after manuscript often with little or no feedback from a potential publisher. We may be tempted to quit that routine and try something else.

But sometimes we have to act on blind faith and know that the fog we are in will eventually clear and trust that positive feedback will be the outcome.

It’s a lesson that emphasizes that strength and endurance count when facing a future that is uncertain.

Copyright c 1991 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.