Stop the Madness!

March is a magical time of year.  A time when Winter begins the give way to Spring.  A time when flowers begin to bloom and the morning air is filled with the songs of birds.  But more important, it's time for March Madness.  Time for filling out brackets and all-you-can-eat college basketball.  (In my opinion Selection Sunday should be declared a National Holiday).

All over the nation people everywhere take time out of their busy lives to fill out brackets.  Even people that don't gamble fill one out.  Even my wife, who sort of hates basketball, fills one out.  Everyone has their own method.  Some people spend hours breaking down match-ups and analyzing teams strengths and weaknesses.  Some people pick based on which mascot would win in a fight.  I know one person who picked for/against colleges that accepted/denied her husband's application.  And everyone is in it to win it.

Its interesting to me how much satisfaction we get when a team we picked wins a game, or how disappointed we get if they lose.  Each year there is at least one school in the tournament that I have never even heard of, but for a couple of hours I'll be their biggest fan.  Unless I picked them to lose.  It fascinates me how emotionally invested we become in what are essentially a series of random guesses.  Just ask anyone who picked Georgetown to go to the Final Four or beyond.  I'm sure they are over it now, but a few weeks ago the pain was still fresh. 

If we allow ourselves to become invested in the outcome of near-random events, just think how much more we should invest if we can control the results.  Now I know what you're thinking.  Life is unpredictable and nobody can see the end from the beginning.  Well, that's only true on the surface.  Life may seem random but it's all part of a bigger plan.  And although you may not be able to see then end, God certainly can and if we allow him to guide us we can get to where He wants us to go.

The other thing I love most about this time of year is General Conference.  What a blessing it is to be able to listen to modern day prophets and apostles who can teach us what the Lord wants us to do.  It's an incredible thing to be able to get clear direction about the things you should be doing.  If you have never watched before I would encourage you to take some time and watch one of the sessions.  The messages they share are filled with hope and love and purpose.

Every time I look at my NCAA Tournament bracket I wonder what I could have done to do better.  Maybe if I had watched more games during the season I would have a better feel for which teams would struggle.  Maybe if I'd done more research I could have picked more winners.  So many uncertainties that all you're left with is a feeling that you're not in control.

Every time I watch General Conference I have the opposite reaction.  I don't have to wonder.  No more guessing or wondering how much better my life would be if I'd made different choices.  I know with a certainty that if I follow the direction given by those speaking in Conference I can be happy because I'll be following the path God has laid out for me.

March Madness?  I'll take April Certainty over that any time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why speaking in absolutes is ALWAYS a bad idea

You don't have to be a computer programmer to appreciate the value of words within a language, but it sure does help.  Your entire career and the success of the programs you build depend on your ability to choose the right words in the right combination, which the provide the proper instructions to the computer to run your program.  Choose the wrong words, or put them in the wrong order and it doesn't work.  The computer can't guess what you meant to say.  It only knows what you actually said.  And while you may not realize it, people behave in much the same way.  We can't rely on the other person guessing what we really meant to say.  It helps to say the thing you really mean in the first place. Now, when you dive a bit deeper it's turns a bit into a chicken/egg type of dilemma.  While it's true that your choice of words and commands instructs the computer what to do, it's also true that you choose your commands based on what you want the comp...
Read more

The Experience of a Lifetime

Over the course of my career as a software developer, I have had many different roles and responsibilities. I have had the opportunity to build new software, replace legacy systems, and many other unique projects. Similarly, the department for which I work has had many different employees filling many different roles. I am currently a member of the one-man team know as the maintenance team. In a nutshell, my job is to field all of the bug reports from each of our various systems and fix them. It's a much different paradigm than writing new code. I've heard it described as being the detective in a crime movie where you're also the murderer. I recently found myself working on a maintenance task to replace some old technology that is being phased out. As part of that effort, I was required to make some fairly extensive changes to one of our applications. More than would normally be required when fixing bugs. It's our standard practice to have your changes reviewed by a ...
Read more

Signs of the Times

As his earthly ministry was coming to an end, Jesus' disciples asked him "what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"  The Savior then taught them how to avoid being deceived and for which signs they should watch.   Signs are all around us.  There are signs dotting every road and street, alerting us and helping us stay safe.  There are signs on hiking trails in the wilderness, helping to orient us and keep us on the right path.  There are signs everywhere we look, providing guidance and information, but all of these signs mean nothing unless we look for them, and pay them heed. The evolution of personal, mobile devices has forever altered the way we receive information.  Gone are the days of watching for signs to tell of forthcoming events.  We no longer look to the skies for an indication of coming weather.  We have an app for that, that will notify us of changes in the weather, and of approaching storms. ...
Read more