| ChurchBeat | | Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 |
What the NBA Champions and President Russell M. Nelson Have in Common in the New Year We naturally tend to pair new years with new resolve. Here’s a fun idea to consider that comes from both the NBA champion Boston Celtics and President Russell M. Nelson about a slight shift in perspective rooted in science and faith. In a recent Instagram video (note: the person who posted it included one curse word), Celtic coach Joe Mazzulla rejects an interviewer’s observation that his star player has to deal with a lot of unfair criticism. “Gets to deal with,” the coach said. “He gets to deal with it. It’s the ultimate compliment, and that’s what we talk about. It’s like, ‘This is what you asked for. You asked to be one of the best players in the NBA on the best team in the NBA with an opportunity to be an icon for the league for a long, long time. This is what you asked for.’” Leadership coach Ben Crowe expanded on that clip of Mazzulla in his Instagram post, and his ideas repeatedly paralleled teachings of President Nelson, the 100-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Their whole strategy is appreciation,” Crowe said of the Celtics. “... When you replace expectation or entitlement — like ‘the world owes me something,’ ‘my life should be different’ — with appreciation or gratitude, the way you see things or your attitude towards things, especially things that previously might have been mundane or unfair, changes dramatically.” Crowe said replacing “got to” with “get to” shifts the mind from a sense of expectation to appreciation. “When we realize that life is difficult, accepting it enables us to survive it but appreciating it enables us to thrive on that journey,” he said. The post resembled multiple teachings from President Nelson, who traded in a career in science as a pioneering heart surgeon for a calling as an apostle. President Nelson spoke about the healing power of gratitude in a video message at Thanksgiving 2020. “Over my nine-and-a-half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems,” he said then. “No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual prescription.” “[T]urn social media into your own personal gratitude journal,” he added in an invitation viewed 12 million times. “Post every day about what you are grateful for, who you are grateful for and why you are grateful,” he said. “At the end of seven days, see if you feel happier and more at peace.” Research supports the idea. Studies show that regularly writing down what one is grateful for can decrease symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, the Church News reported. “One study found that keeping a gratitude journal decreased materialism and bolstered generosity among teenagers. In another study, high school students who were asked to keep gratitude journals also reported healthier eating. A 2021 review of research found keeping a gratitude journal can cause a significant drop in diastolic blood pressure — the force that the heart exerts between beats.” Crowe went on to talk about how the Celtics emphasize a Triple-T philosophy. Team — An idea that includes love and belonging and includes identity as someone worthy of love. Tough — The courage to be who you are. Thankfulness — Appreciate and celebrate the journey. Crowe credits this perspective with helping the Celtics win the NBA title in June. President Nelson’s ministry has included perspective-shifting teachings on love, courage and gratitude, too. In 2021, President Nelson wrote that “Spiritual self-esteem begins with the realization that each new morning is a gift from God. Even the air we breathe is a loving loan from him.” In 2022, he told young adult Latter-day Saints to embrace the truth about who they are as daughters and sons of a Heavenly Father who loves each person unequivocally. “In all of eternity, no one will ever know you or care about you more than (God) does,” he said. During the same worldwide broadcast for young adults, he taught them to be have the courage to keep the promises they’ve made to God as disciples of Jesus Christ. President Nelson has taught other messages of positivity, optimism and gratitude since the press conference that introduced him to the world as the new Latter-day Saint prophet in 2018, when he said: “I give you my assurance that regardless of the world’s condition and your personal circumstances, you can face the future with optimism and joy — if you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel.” Happy New Year! |
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What I’m Reading ... How BYU’s Jay Hill led the defense from the coaches’ box with his wife monitoring his heart. In a recent column, Nicholas Kristof spoke with Elaine Pagels, a Princeton religion professor. At one point, there was the following exchange: Kristof: “I disagree with most evangelicals and conservative Catholics on political questions. But I also find that my fellow liberals are often deeply unfair to conservative Christians. Some of the most heroic aid work around the world is done by Christian organizations like World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and International Justice Mission. Shouldn’t those of us in the liberal world be celebrating this kind of faith-based aid instead of belittling it?” Pagels: “Absolutely. I just came from Tennessee, where I was visiting an Episcopal Church program dealing with incarcerated people. There I spoke to a group of men on death row who are taking a course of study, reading and discussing the Bible, and it was quite extraordinary.” For the record, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints collaborates with World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and numerous other charities all over the world. |
President Russell M. Nelson smiles after issuing an invitation to choose gratitude in a video released at Thanksgiving during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) |
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla during Game 1 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Boston. (Charles Krupa, Associated Press) |
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