Milestones & Moments
Today is about you. And it’s not only about you.
The name on that paper didn’t get there through individual effort alone. There are specific people in this room and outside of it whose investment made today possible. And one of the most important things you can do on a day like this is name them.
Read this passage slowly.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
Romans 16:3–4 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Paul names specific people. Not a general category of helpers — Priscilla and Aquila, by name, for this specific thing. Named gratitude does something that general thankfulness cannot. It tells the specific person that their specific investment was seen and valued.
Who got you here? Not the general category of supportive people — the specific person who drove you to practices for years. The coach who saw something in you before you saw it yourself. The teammate who pushed you harder than you wanted to be pushed. The parent who worked extra hours to keep you in the sport. The teacher who held you accountable to the academic standard that kept you eligible.
Those people deserve to be named. Today, specifically, while the milestone is present and the gratitude is fresh. Not because they need the recognition — though the recognition means something to them. Because named gratitude is one of the most powerful things one person can offer another. It says: I know what you did, I know what it cost, and I want you to know that it mattered.
Say it out loud today. To their faces, with their names. The commitment is yours. The path to it was theirs too.
Named gratitude tells the specific person that their specific investment was seen. Say it out loud today, with their names.
Who is one person in this room, or who should be in this room, who you would not be here without? Say their name and tell us what they did.
Let this go around as long as the room is willing. The named gratitude is the devotional.
Name them. Today, out loud, with their faces in front of you. The path to this was theirs too.
This devotional requires family members to be present to reach its full potential. If families are not present, adapt the question to names the athlete will contact today.