Less Than a Minute to Go

by Bill Thierfelder

  For what can ultimately trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do his will? If God is for us, who can stand against us? Nothing, not even death, can separate us from God. Nothing can touch us that does not come from his hand, nothing can trouble us because all things come from his hand. Is this too simple, or are we just afraid really to believe it, to accept it fully and in every detail of our lives, to yield ourselves up to it in total commitment? This is the ultimate question of faith, and each must answer it for himself in the quiet of his heart and the depths of his soul. But to answer it in the affirmative is to know a peace, to discover a meaning to life, that surpasses all understanding. (Walter Ciszek, SJ, He Leadeth Me, Ignatius)

  After all of those NFL preseason camps spent with Fr. Ciszek, Rick said, “The reality that this moment is exactly where God wants me to be and is exactly the time and place for me to encounter Him, was an eye opening revelation. God is not far off. He’s not over there. He’s right in my circumstances no matter what they are, where I am, and He is available to me for this intimate relationship.” Fr. Ciszek had taught him that he did not need to look for, or discern, God’s will. He had come to know that this moment is God’s will. This moment is perfect.

  If you remember back to chapters six and seven, peak performances occur when athletes focus 100 percent of their skills, talents, and abilities on the task at hand, in the present moment. That’s as good as it gets in athletics. Now consider that, to God, all of time is present. He has no past and he has no future. When we ruminate about the past or become anxious about the future we have left him. Therefore, to the degree that we remain in the present moment, is the degree to which we remain in perfect union with him. It is a great comfort and wonder to know that when we perform in the present moment in sport or life, we are closest to him.

  And it is in that present moment that you are best able to listen. Amidst all the clutter and noise, God is talking to you. He is asking you to do something with the gifts that he has given you. There is probably no better story than the parable of the talents to understand what that is.

  It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents*; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, “Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.” His master said to him, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.” [Then] the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.” His master said to him, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.” Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, “Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.” His master said to him in reply, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

  * Talents were typically silver or gold bars that weighed between fifty and one-hundred pounds and would have represented an extraordinary sum. One talent of gold weighing seventy-five pounds would be worth over 1.8 million dollars in today’s market. Five talents would be valued at well over 9 million dollars.

  It is worth noting that each servant was given a different measure of silver, each according to his ability, but each one was asked to do the same thing with it, to double it. How often does the world try to pretend that everything is equal and that everyone is the same? Being different is not a bad thing. In the parable of the talents God shows you that if you double whatever He has given you, big or small, the reward is the same. By your fidelity and perseverance in doing this, you will be brought into perfect union with Him and hear the most comforting of words, “Good and faithful servant, enter into your Master’s joy.”

  One of the challenges in life is to know whether or not you are in the process of doubling your talents. Not the gold or silver kind referred to in the parable, but the skills, talents, and abilities God has entrusted you with while he is away. Too often we can mistake being better than others for having doubled our talents. You might be tempted to look around and compare yourself to others and ask, “Am I winning or losing? Am I better than they are?”

  You may be delighted when you learn that you have accomplished much more than those around you, but before you start strutting around thinking, “I am just like that guy with the five talents,” you might want to very carefully consider what you were given. Otherwise, you might find yourself on judgment day standing before the gates of Heaven with a gallon jug of water. Having just arrived, you see five people ahead of you, each holding a thimble full of water. As they approach the pearly gates, their thimbles are checked. One by one they enter into Heaven. Finally, it’s your turn. With some pride and a smile slowly spreading across your face, you lift the heavy gallon jug and, without pausing, attempt to continue on. Suddenly the gates shut and a voice calls you back, “Where are you going?” “Into Heaven of course,” you say. “I’m sorry but you did nothing with what I gave you,” admonishes the voice. “But you let those people in with thimbles, I have a gallon,” you demur. “Yes,” says the voice, “But that is all they were given. Turn around.” When you turn, there behind you is the Atlantic Ocean. The voice says, “That is what I gave you but all you have brought with you is this gallon jug.”

  To those who have been given much, much will be demanded. It does not matter if you are the world record holder if it is less than you were meant to be. Roberto Clemente, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame who died at the age of thirty-eight while personally delivering desperately needed supplies to the victims of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua said, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time here on Earth.”

  Doubling your talents is not about earning your way into Heaven. It’s about the higher argument made in the Act of Contrition. It’s about responding to God’s love and grace in your life. Even when you do, doubling all that you have been given, you are still like a little child in the eyes of God. This is probably a good thing since God loves little children; maybe that’s why we love children so much, too. Have you ever been given a drawing by a young child? She usually walks up to you with a smile that can’t be contained. She is bursting with joy and the anticipation of giving you her work of love, her masterpiece. From behind her back, with sudden quickness, a drawing is thrust at you. “I made this for you,” she beams. Her joy has you smiling before you have even seen it. Conscious that she is carefully studying your reaction, you immediately say, “Oh, my! This is extraordinary! Did you really do this yourself?” She looks down in humility and says, “Yes, and I made it just for you.”

  The reality is that as you look at the drawing, you have no idea what it is. There appears to be some creatures that could be human but it’s hard to know for sure. If someone had found
it on the street they would have thrown it away. So you say, “Well, this is just incredible, tell me all about it.” She goes on to tell you, “This is you and me walking in the garden, and Mom and Dad are on the roof of the house waving to us, and they have balloons and a cake for your birthday, and there are seagulls flying around like when we were at the beach…” The entire time you listen with rapt attention and when she looks up from the picture you gaze into her eyes in awe of the pure and innocent love before you. There is only one thing to do, you say, “We must hang this up on the refrigerator.” Of course this is the equivalent of hanging it in the Louvre. She trails excitedly behind you towards the fridge where your happiness and her love will be on display for the world to see.

  In the eyes of God you are a lot like the little girl. Your life is your drawing and at the end of your time you will bring it to him and with a beaming smile say, “I made this for you!” God will look at it like you looked at hers, despite being a composite of scribbled lines, he will say, “Oh, my! This is extraordinary! Did you really do this yourself?” You will look down in humility and say, “Yes, though I now know you helped me along the way. I made it just for you.” God will say, “There is only one thing to do. We must hang it on the refrigerator.” And there, infinite happiness and love will hang for eternity.

  Here are three clues to ensure that your picture ends up on the refrigerator. The first is that God exists. This may not be so hard for you to believe since a recent Gallup poll showed that over 92 percent of Americans believe in God. If God exists, it means that there is automatically some kind of a connection or relationship between you and God. It doesn’t mean that you are necessarily doing anything about it, but that wouldn’t change the fact that there is a connection, however remote. Just because you can’t see the moon at this moment doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If God exists, you not believing in Him or doing anything about it doesn’t change the fact that he exists. Assuming you are in the 92 percent, or at least open to the idea that there really is a God, what’s next?

  The second clue is that you’ve only been given one thing. Everything else can be taken away from you in a fraction of a second: your life, your health, your family, your home, your car, your legs, and on and on. Boom! Gone in an instant. All you are left with is how you are going to deal with it. The only thing you really have been given is your free will. You might wonder, “Why free will? Why have I been given this ability to decide how I will act and react to things?” Think of it this way. What if you were told that, in a few moments, you were going to meet someone who is being paid five thousand dollars a day to say that they love you. They walk in, look you in the eye, and with dramatic flair say, “I love you.” Does it mean anything to you? Probably not, because you know they are being paid to say it.

  Now imagine that God walks into the room, Are you going to leave the room? Is anyone going to leave the room? No! God looks at you and asks, “Do you love me?” How are you going to answer? You’re going to say, “Yes!” You might think, “What about the atheists?” Well, God is in the room. There are no more atheists. So even the atheist, if asked by God, “Do you love me?” is going to say, perhaps with some embarrassment, “Yes!”, because he knows the consequence of saying no.

  However, at this point it doesn’t mean as much as having said it before seeing the Truth. Like the guy with the five thousand dollars, you’re almost feeling compelled to say, “Yes.” It’s like getting married with a gun held to your head while saying your vows, it doesn’t count. It isn’t valid because you did not freely choose to marry. The reason you were given free will is so that you could choose to love. Without it, you are not capable of truly loving anyone including God.

  The third clue, at the risk of sounding morbid, is that we are all going to die. There has never been a person who hasn’t died. The question is, “How long are you going to live?” Seventy years? Eighty? Ninety? Maybe, one-hundred? Be optimistic and say that you will live to be one-hundred years old. Now—sorry to do this to you—imagine the worst possible pain. Do you have something? Okay, now snap your finger once in less than a second. Go ahead and actually try it! Now snap it in less than half a second. Good! Now, one-hundredth of a second. A thousandth of a second. A millionth of a second. Still going? Let’s make it ridiculous, a billionth of a second. Can you even move that fast?

  Clearly it’s not possible but it’s to your credit if you’re still trying! Now recall that worst possible pain you imagined earlier. If it would come and go in one billionth of a second, with no after effect at all, could you take it? Most people say, “Yes, it’s so fast that I wouldn’t be able to feel it or even know I had it.” Go back to the age question. You said you might live until you were one-hundred years old. How long is one-hundred years in relation to all of eternity, all of time? In essence it’s shorter than a billionth of a second and you just said you could take the worst pain in the world for a billionth of a second. That’s your life.

  God is asking you just one question: “Do you love me?” He puts you here on this earth for the shortest possible time, less than a billionth of a second, and asks if you will choose to love him. It’s almost embarrassing – imagine going home to someone you love and asking, “Would you love me for a billionth of a second?” They’d think you’re out of your mind. And yet God, in His infinite mercy, puts you here for less-than-billionth of a second and says, “I’m giving you free will and I am asking you one question, ‘Do you love me?’ ” Of course, you can give the lip service and say, “Oh yeah, I love you. Of course I love you.” But the way you really know people in the end is not by what they say but by what they do. You hope what they say matches what they do but in the end it is their actions that speak louder than their words.

  The same holds true for you. God plops you down somewhere on earth with your particular family and socio-economic background, and He says, “I am going to give you opportunities to sacrifice.” Depending on how you respond to them is your answer to His question, “Do you love me?” When you choose to take on the sacrifice you have said, “Yes.” The times you look away, are the times that you have said, “No.” The way you live out your life is the answer to the single most important question you will ever be asked, “Do you love me?”

  TAKE AWAY

  Your life is faster than a billionth of a second. Knowing what is most important, your strongest purpose, in life will enable you to accept and make the sacrifices necessary to double your talents. By living, working and playing, in the present moment you will experience peak performances and remain in perfect union with God. Your love in thought, word, and deed for God and neighbor is the answer to the most important question that you will ever be asked, “Do you love me?” Are you ready to live it?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dr. Bill Thierfelder is President of Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic Liberal Arts College located 10 miles west of Charlotte, NC. Founded by Benedictine monks over 137 years ago, the College embodies the Benedictine tradition of prayer and learning by educating its students to lead lives of integrity, succeed professionally, become responsible citizens and be a blessing to themselves and others.

  Dr. Thierfelder received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Sports Psychology and Human Movement from Boston University. He is a licensed psychologist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties. He is also a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. He is a former member of United States Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology Registry, an NCAA Division I Coach, Olympian (did not compete due to injury), National Champion (IRE) and a two-time All-American from the University of Maryland. He is a member of the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame, which includes world-class athletes, coaches, and team owners, such as George “Papa Bear” Halas, Wellington Mara, Brian Piccolo, and others.

  Prior to his appointment as President of Belmont Abbey College, Dr. Thierfelder was president of the legendary fitness company York Barbell. Other career posts include Executive
Director of the Player Management Group, National Director of Sports Science for Nova-Care, and principal and cofounder of Joyner Sports Medicine Institute; where he helped over a hundred Olympic and professional athletes achieve dramatic improvements in performance.

  Dr. Thierfelder has delivered hundreds of presentations regarding topics related to faith, sport, education, medicine and business, as well as testifying before the United States Congress in matters related to religious liberty. He is a Knight of Malta and lives just outside of Charlotte, NC with his wife, Mary and their ten children.

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