A Tip from Vince Lombardi

In Wisconsin we love Vince Lombardi    (1913-1970).   Vince died at the young age of 57, about my age.  He went to daily Mass, but he was was not a saint, especially when it came to his family.   He worked too much, to the  neglect of his wife Marie, and his  two children, Vincent Henry and Susan.  (Well, it was not all work.  He and Marie  did have good times,  as we know from the stories of their  Friday night fish fry outings and the Sunday post-game parties with the players in the basement of their home.)   At Mass Vince prayed for control of his temper.  Balancing work and family life is a struggle for all of us.

Vince Lombardi 1962 photo 

I just want to mention one thing here  that I learned from Vince, which helps  with study of the Gospels.  Vince worked all day and came home.   He went back to work at night.  How could he do that?   His habit was to sit in his chair and take a rest,  and sleep briefly,  after supper.  That re-charged his batteries and gave him the energy to go back to work for a few more hours, to prepare for the next game.

Spare time Bible students like me search for ways to buy time for study.   How do you do that when you just worked for ten hours, did some work at home,  and have been beaten down by the day?  Exercise is a good idea.  But on some days,  if there is  no evening meeting and if Tim does not have a game,  I like the example of Vince.  Find a way to rest after work and even nod off for about 15 minutes, but no more than 15 minutes.  That will give you the energy to get up and  reflect on the lectionary Gospel text for the day, or go to the book that you are reading.  Now I am in the middle of Richard Bauckham's  Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitnesses Testimony,  (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K:  Eerdmanns, 2006).  As a lawyer Bauckham's eyewitness testimony approach to his discussion of the historicity of the Gospels is music to my ears, but you need to be wide awake to learn  from him.   Thanks to this tip from Vince, at least on some nights I have the energy to do my reading.