OUR DEBT TO OTHERS
Concerning a high school basketball player; we are told that he scored the winning basket to put hisa team in the state tournament. He became an instant hero. But the fame affected his attitude. He began to think of himself as a one-man team.
One day his couch, in an effort to salvage a good player, asked him a question that brought him to reality: "Who passed the ball to you?"
All of us have our moments of success, when the tendency would be to feel that we achieved it all, alone. But when we allow ourselves a closer look, we know, as do others, that someone passed the ball to us.
Behind every accomplishment, every 'winning basket' there is someone who has 'passed the ball to us.' They are often unrecognized and seldom acknowledged. But they are there. And they are tributaries, pouring good things into our lives, just as little streams are tributaries to the greatness of the ocean.
The man who recognizes the influences in his life, the tributaries, the contributors to his success, is much better equipped to handle his accomplishments. For, with gratitude he accepts them, which makes a great difference, in himself and in others.
The player learned a significant lesson from his couches question, that when team members know you as a team player, they will pass the ball to you quite frequently. One-man team guys soon lose their touch, for they shut off their tributaries.
