Super Bowl XLIV: Dare to Dream

I am not a football fan, but it’s hard to ignore the Super Bowl especially this year with its David and Goliath, ripped from a Hollywood screenplay match-up.  As I’m sure you’ve heard, the New Orleans Saints will make their Superbowl debut this year up against the epic Indianapolis Colts.   Super Bowl XLIV (44 if your roman numerals are rusty) could well be one to remember.

Talk of offensive and defensive lines is lost on me.  What little I know about football I learned from reading Pat Conroy novels.  But I even I know this: this year we might really see something special.  For the first time in their 43 year history, the Saints are going to the Superbowl.  They get to play with the big boys and could emerge as champions.  No disrespect to Peyton Manning, but I’d love see them pull it off.  And I know I’m not the only one.

There is something inside us that hopes for the unlikely, the impossible, and the miraculous.   Believing that a team that has never been to the Super Bowl could come away winning it all is just a step away from believing something incredible could happen to me, too.

We love a good fairytale.  I know we’re grown-ups and we care about important things like the economy and the environment, but there’s something magical about a rising-from-the-ashes story.  Just look at Susan Boyle.

We’ve all seen her famous audition.  She took the stage amid giggles and smirks and rolling eyes, but then she opened her mouth to sing and the world stood in stunned silence.  As of this writing her debut album has sold over three million copies.  No other female artist has ever sold so many, so quickly.

On Sunday the players will wait, lined-up, muscles tensed and ready for the start of the game.  Have you ever felt like you are waiting for something to happen? I’ve felt that too (although admittedly, thankfully, I was not wearing football equipment).   It’s pretty common to wonder if there’s something more.  We hear stories like J.K. Rowling’s and wonder if it could happen to us.   We wonder if we’re destined for greatness.

In his book Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus talks about the soul’s desire for destiny, how this longing for meaning is coded into the very core of who we are.  He talks about destiny at length, but the part that stuck out to me the most was this line, “You are not supposed to passively enter into tomorrow.  You are supposed to be actively engaged in the creation of tomorrow.”

Watch: Erwin McManus talks about destiny and meaning

By the end of the day Sunday, someone will be Super Bowl champions.  The Saints may prove that they had it in them all along, or the Colts might remind us why they’ve been to the final game so many times.  Either way, someone’s dream will come true and another’s will fall away.  There will be confetti and campaign, a dance of victory and a long walk back to a subdued locker room.

What will happen to the rest of us? By the end of the day Sunday will your own dream be a step closer, or just a shadow on the horizon?  There’s a beautiful song by Colin Hay that says “Any minute now my ship is coming in … I’m waiting for my real life to begin”  My challenge to you, and to myself is this: don’t wait.  Your real life is what’s happening right now.   (GO SAINTS!)

Upcoming chat: Join us for our discussion on the topic “Has God ever disappointed you?” on February 7th 2010 at 12:15pm EST in our online chat room.

Tags: Culture, dreams, erwin mcmanus, football, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, sports, Superbowl XLIV

No comments yet

Leave a Reply