The Power of Huddles

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This week before the Super Bowl seems like an appropriate time to make some comparisons between football and life. (Hey, I have three brothers! I ‘get’ the game!) 

In football, each team is one unit, yet individual players contribute their respective talents toward the shared mission of winning the game. In their quest to score touchdowns, those who play offense strategize before the game and then, more importantly, they meet in huddles on a regular basis to check their progress and encourage one another. Huddling and working together to utilize every player’s skills make the whole team stronger.

In life, God has given us ‘teams’ that provide us with opportunities to contribute to the common good and to strengthen us as we work toward our goals of loving and serving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. These teams include our family, friends, work, church, and the organizations we participate in.

Community is important – we strengthen our ‘offense’ by working together with our teams to reach those goals. One powerful way to do this is to ‘huddle’ on a regular basis. When we huddle, we forge bonds with the other members; we affirm and support each other; we make each other stronger. Family huddles include setting aside time to listen to each other, maybe at mealtimes. Huddles with our coworkers, friends, and group members include meetings, social gatherings, and rehearsals. Huddles to strengthen our spiritual resolve include participating in Mass and other services and receiving God’s grace through the sacraments. 

Football is a rough game. The defense will do everything they can to crush the offense. They huddle to communicate their plan of attack. The offense’s huddles help them anticipate the defense’s tactics so they’re not caught by surprise.  

Life can be rough, too. Evil forces in the world attack us – they use all kinds of tactics to stop us from reaching our goals. We experience this, for example, when we rationalize our persistence in what we know are unloving or hurtful actions. We see this, too, when we run into determined interference in our efforts to huddle with our teams – huddles that would strengthen our relationships and our efforts to serve God and others. These challenges are part of life; as Christ told His followers, “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). 

Thank God for the teams He’s given us, and the huddles we participate in, that strengthen us in our efforts to love and serve God and our neighbor.

“May the God of peace… furnish you with all that is good, that you may do His will. May He carry out in you what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ…” 

– Hebrews 13:20-21

Open my eyes, that I may see You. Open my ears, that I may hear You. Open my heart, that I may love You in the people around me.

Thank you for reading my reflection!  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words.    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

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P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Lifting Each Other Up

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If you’ve ever struggled to reach a goal, you might have discovered that joining a group with similar desires as your own helped you succeed. That’s because we tend to thrive when we’re supported by people who have the same goal that we do. For example, if we want to walk regularly, walking with a group might help us stick to a routine. The group makes the activity more enjoyable and encourages us to keep going when we want to stop. It also holds us accountable (“We missed you yesterday!”). 

We benefit from our social and spiritual connections in a similar way that we benefit from a club such as a walking group. It’s important to nurture our relationships with the people who encourage and challenge us, and who allow us to do the same for them. We bring out the best in each other emotionally and spiritually. We strengthen each other for the hurdles that life presents to us. We pray for each other as we navigate health issues, work-related challenges, or family struggles. We help each other get through each particular difficulty in the way Christ wants us to, which is sometimes different from what our initial reaction might be.

Lifting each other up in this way fills us with the Love our souls crave. Convinced that we’re loved by God, we’re strengthened to offer this love to others. For example, if someone at work shares with you that they’re struggling with something, offer to pray for them. Tell them that you don’t even need to know the details; God knows the details. Tell them you’ll pray that the Lord will give them whatever it is that they need the most, including His peace during this difficult time. Doing so will remind them that they’re loved and that Christ is walking with them through their challenge. 

The early apostles also supported each other as they traveled and spread the word of Christ’s resurrection. Take the case of Paul. He and Barnabas were preaching and healing people with the power of Christ, but there were some who didn’t accept them. At one point, Paul was stoned and left for dead. The other disciples gathered around him and, presumably, prayed for him and cared for him until he recovered fully (see Acts 14).

Empowered by the love of Christ, the early apostles prayed for each other and strengthened each other in their ministry. In a similar way, let’s lift each other up and encourage each other to face life’s difficulties with the strength Christ gives us. 

“When the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city.” – Acts 14:20

“Lord, thank You for the people who help me face my challenges with You.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.