*Today’s devotional is written by Luke Heaton, UNPACKIN’ it’s Social Media Director and Podcast Co-Host.
Will Zalatoris was one of the more exciting young players in professional golf last season. He had eight top-ten finishes, including a solo 2nd place finish at the Masters. At just age 24, he’s ranked as the 29th best golfer in the world.
What has made Zalatoris and other golfers successful is not just the ability to hit incredible shots, but the maturity to respond well to the wide array of emotions experienced throughout the tournament.
Zalatoris recently told a story about how his caddy, Ryan Goble, played a key role in helping him navigate the strong emotions he faced en route to his first professional win at the 2020 TPC Colorado Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.
After not taking advantage of the par-five 15th hole on the last day of the tournament, Zalatoris said he could tell Goble knew he was frustrated. So approaching the short par three 16th hole, Goble found a way to calm Zalatoris down before hitting his tee shot to prevent an avoidable mistake.
In recalling, Zalatoris explained, “We get up on to 16 tee and it’s like a 122-yard par-3 down the hill with a false front and I’m pacing off the yardage. I’m like, ‘I’ve got 122.’ He said, ‘Pace it off again.’ I’m looking at him like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m trying to win a golf tournament. You’ve got a different number.'”
Zalatoris walked it off again and realized what was going on when he got the same number.
He went on to say, “I look at him and he’s smiling and I knew immediately what he was doing was actually trying to get me to slow down and just take a moment. Don’t press and make another mistake when you don’t have to because the first thing if someone tells you to calm down, you’re like ‘Well, no, I’m not going to calm down, you calm down.’”
Zalatoris hit his shot to eight feet, made birdie, and ended up winning the tournament by one.
This awesome story not only gives fans insight into the player/caddy dynamic during a tournament but also serves as an important reminder for our faith.
Just like Will Zalatoris was experiencing frustration during the tournament, we too experience a host of strong emotions in life. How often are we able to slow down and prevent these emotions from wrongly influencing our actions?
James writes in his first chapter how Christians experience various trials and a broad range of emotions. He offers this encouragement in verses 19 and 20: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
Emotions aren’t inherently bad. Part of being made in God’s image is the ability to experience the wide-ranging emotional spectrum. That being said, one aspect of growing in our faith involves learning how to manage our emotions rather than being managed by them.
Just like Will Zalatoris was able to slow down and steward his emotions with help from his caddy, we can learn to respond faithfully to strong emotions by asking God to empower us by His Spirit and guide us with His Word.
I’m Luke Heaton and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: God, thank you for creating me in Your image and allowing me to experience emotions. I ask that You would empower me to manage my emotions so that they don’t have control over me. Help me to respond faithfully when I experience strong emotions. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Discussion Questions for PACKS:
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Which emotion or emotions do you struggle to find control over?
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Has there been a moment where you’ve been able to respond well to strong emotions and see a good result?
