Ever I since started playing football, I hadn't won one game. Not a single one! There was even one year that we didn't even score a point. The next year we didn't win a single game, but at least we scored. But, finally, on the last game of my middle school career, we won! We won, 64 to 0. It was amazing. It felt like we’d won the Super Bowl. It may not have been the best team in the league that we beat, but it was a win and I finally got to taste what it was like to win.

Losing is hard. And it certainly makes it difficult for us when it comes to practice. We find it hard to put forth any kind of real effort when aren’t seeing results. But, do we realize that in everything we do, we are to work as hard as we can for the Lord?

Twenty minutes into the road trip on our summer vacation and the game began. “Did you lock the back door?” “Yes.” “Did you stop the mail?” “Two days ago.” “Oh man! I forgot my swim trunks!” “No, I saw you pack them.”

Regardless of the trip, this is the conversation my wife and I usually have and for many of us, it’s a part of the vacation tradition. We plan, arrange, pack, plan some more and make sure all the details of our destination are in order. We fill up our days making sure we get as much as we can in while we’re away. After all, it is our vacation.

But God shared something very profound with me during the 12 hour car ride. It was so profound for me that I was curious as to how I could have overlooked it in all of my previous family vacations, treks and trips.

In his book "Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way," Pope John Paul II took a chapter to talk about the steps he used as a new bishop to initiate fellowship. He wrote that prayer prepared him for his encounters with others. He suggested that we pray for everyone every day, and also offered that praying as soon as you meet someone would help in all relationships.

Patience precedes all great things in life. It is only through patience that we achieve anything impressively large, bigger than ourselves, lasting, powerful, or useful. We all want to be a part of greatness, yet not all are willing to endure the patience it requires. Patience is by definition the capacity for waiting; the ability to endure waiting and delay without becoming annoyed or upset; or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. We live in a world of immediacy. Waiting is not tolerated. If we get annoyed just sitting at a red light, imagine the struggle to wait on the bigger things in life. We can start learning to wait with the little opportunities we have each day like standing in the grocery line, waiting at practice to master a new skill, or sitting in traffic.