A legend goes home

I found these quotes at Steve Wilkin’s blog. They were made by John Wooden, the very successful basketball coach at UCLA.

“Don’t be too concerned with regard to things over which you have no control, because that will eventually have an adverse effect on things over which you have control.”

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.”

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

“Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.”

Wilkins then wrote:

'It was his faith in Jesus that guided, upheld, and comforted him through all his years. After [his wife] Nell died in 1985, Coach was heartbroken. But he never despaired. When someone asked how he was holding up after Nell’s death, he said, “I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior. Until that is done, we are on an aimless course that runs in circles and goes nowhere.”'

Amen!