Monday Morning Devotion-September 23, 2014
A Crumb Mentality
There were only two fish and five barley loaves to start with but when Jesus took them and gave thanks to God, the men who alone numbered 5,000 all ate until they were full. John 6:11
In our weekly countdown of the most viewed devotions since 2005, we have reached number 1,006th. This week’s featured devotion is the 2nd most watched of all the devotions. Called “A Crumb Mentality” when it was posted for the week of January 13, 2,014 it was seen by 6,129 readers. Hope you enjoy this very popular read.
A Crumb Mentality
It was a super start to the New Year. My alma mater and favorite football team The Florida State Seminoles, aka the Noles or FSU, won the National Championship of College Football. Now my friends and I go around wishing everyone a Happy Nole Year. It was the third time this has happened but, the first since 1999. So how did they do it? How did they become the last team standing at the end of an arduous season? Well, they did it by having a crumb mentality. It is something each one of us could emulate to have success in our lives.
I read about this "crumb mentality" in the local newspaper (Tallahassee Democrat-Ira Schoffel, 12-7-13). Coaches are always looking for ways to get their message across to their players to get them to focus and worker harder. It seems Jimbo Fisher did this by introducing them to the Crumb Mentality.
When the coach first introduced this concept to the team many of the players were shaking their heads and asking themselves, "What's up with that?"
Starting Tackle Cameron Erving said, " I was kinda like, 'Uhhh, what?" Then he considered it. "But when you think about it and actually process it and let that sink in, you realize that's some of the best advice you'll ever get in your life. Whether it's football or the real world you've just got to stay hungry," Erving added.
Schoffel writes, "It didn't take long for the corny saying to turn into a Seminole cornerstone." In fact, the Noles followed that trail of crumbs all the way to a National Championship, the ultimate accomplishment in College Sports.
What is this crumb mentality anyway? It is a mindset! It is believing that even the tiniest detail is important! It may just be a crumb, not the whole piece of bread. But by putting all these crumbs together you come up with a piece of bread. Put enough pieces of bread together and you get a whole loaf.
It implies that the tiniest details mean the most and you have to believe the big picture will come into focus one pixel at a time.
What does this mean in football terms? Jimbo says, "Every play is not a touchdown. I'm not going to make a big hit or catch an interception or score a touchdown every play. But if I'm doing my job I'm staying hungry.”
When the players keep picking up the crumbs, one at a time, then when they get enough of them the hunger will be satisfied. Those crumbs represent one play, one exercise, one film study session at a time. Doing their best in each one of these tiny things leads a player to bigger things such as big play in a game that leads to a win in the season, then the conference championship, then a National Championship. That crumb mentality helped the Seminoles gain the ultimate payoff.
The crumbs are scattered everywhere in our lives. We pass over, step on and ignore many of them. We are always looking for the big picture. It is not often that we pay attention to all these little things that make up the big one.
When 5,000 men and their families were listening to Jesus speak all day, they began to get hungry. Jesus turned to Philip and asked where they could buy bread for them. Philip was incredulous as he replied, "It would cost a small fortune to feed all these people."
Then Andrew pointed out that a young boy had brought his lunch. It consisted of two fish and five loaves of bread…mere crumbs when it came to feeding the multitudes.
But Jesus had a crumb mentality. He knew that he could turn the crumbs in life into something big. So, he did. He took the boy's lunch and turned it into enough food to feed everyone and there were twelve basketfuls left over.
Sometimes in life the crumb might be a sacrifice we make. Even though it might be done grudgingly to make somebody else happy or to bring in more dollars by switching to a less glamorous or fun job or putting someone's welfare or desires ahead of our own, it is a mere crumb in the big picture. It seems small and perhaps depressing but from it comes something bigger.
First of all, it changes us from within. Sacrifices may seem one-sided at first but the things you go on to achieve because your unselfishness changed your thinking are well worth it.
In the case of the Florida State football team a crumb for a player could have been something like showing up early and well prepared for a team meeting. Maybe it was putting in extra minutes after practice to work on a drill. Might have been trying to improve your technique one play at a time.
Coach Fisher feels this Crumby Mentality played a large role in keeping his team focused on moving past the clutter, the hype and the praises and concentrating on the process. They tried to improve play by play, practice by practice, and game by game and they did.
And finally with all those crumbs collected the big picture came into focus. They found themselves in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California in the National Championship game playing the SEC Champs Auburn. It was a team from the conference that had won the last seven championship games.
But, with all the crumbs now collected the whole loaf was available to the Seminoles who went out and won the Championship.
When we collect those crumbs in life day after day, we are headed for the outcome that God has in mind for us. Our faith in his Son leads us to recognize these daily crumbs as more than that. They become our steppingstones to success in this life and beyond.
Monday Prayer: Lord help us to be ever mindful to pick up the crumbs along life's journey so that we can build a success model patterned after your perfect example. Amen!
***author's note: Have a crumby week…uh, well you know what I mean. Look for the crumbs that will contribute to a whole happy life.