The middle of May signals the final stretch for high school and college teams competing for postseason glory. With the end of the regular season in sight, teams look ahead often with great hope. However, some teams look forward with disappointment because they look back with regret. In many cases, the disappointment about a team’s future (or lack thereof) can be traced to individual or collective slacking in the previous months. There is certainly no guarantee that hard work equals postseason success. Yet, there is almost certainly no success without hard work.

Proverbs 13:4 puts it this way: “The slacker craves and gets nothing, but the diligent is fully satisfied” (HCSB).

Picture it. Everyone wants to be successful, whether as a player, a team, a coach, a parent, a spouse, a teacher, or whatever you may do. But not everyone is. Clearly, some things are out of your control, but how diligent you are to achieve success in the areas God makes you responsible is well within your control.

The life God has called you to live is built on diligence, one day at a time. If your future is bleak as a team, consider your past diligence. If, as a parent or coach, you see only disappointment and failure in your future, look back and evaluate how diligent you’ve been recently. If your marriage is rocky, contemplate how diligent you were in the past few months.

Wanting success isn’t enough. Everyone wants it. Only the diligence are fully satisfied in life. If you don’t like where your life is heading, begin today to diligently chart a new course. God’s grace is enough to empower you for it. Be diligent and see what happens.

Here’s a prayer:

Heavenly Father, I look toward the future and see only disappointment and failure. I look to the past and realize I have been a slacker in many areas. Please forgive me and set me on a new path, one of diligence and faithfulness to you and your word. Change me, starting now. Amen.