Peyton's Super Lesson

Peyton is quite the football player.  He body fills out his Tennessee orange outfits just like you’d expect from someone who has the makings of the small percentage of human beings who can “make it” in big time football.  Peyton not only has the body, but he also has the spirit, the mental toughness to play sports at the highest level.  But, mostly what he has is something anyone can have, if they want it.  He takes personal responsibility for seeing his way through a challenge. Peyton perseveres. That’s what the real mark of a champion is; what separates the best from the rest in any field of endeavor is that they are deadly serious about personal perseverance in the face of odds which most of the world backs away from. Peyton grew up in Lewisburg, Tennessee, a small town in a rural area.  He took advantage of the local strength-conditioning equipment, flipping tire tractors.  He played youth football at seven and was an All-American as an eight-grader.  He received, as you might imagine, lots of big-time college recruiting letters, with coaches dreaming of having Peyton change their program around or keeping it going at a high level.  But, then he was seriously injured. Surgery and the painful rehabilitation are inevitable.  The “career” could be over before it starts due to one injury.  But, the way Peyton sees it, “It’s on you to do the therapy. It’s on you to do the work. You decide how you turn out.”  Now that is a super lesson for anyone, that the high school sophomore, Peyton Williams learned from his hero. (SI, 12.23.13)

You see, when your name is Peyton and you become, first a state legend, and then a national legend, lots of mommas and papas choose your name for their children. After Peyton Manning became famous, directing Tennessee to a win over arch-rival Alabama in 1995,  the name Peyton shot way up the list of most popular baby names. And for good reason. “Peyton” took on its own definition: hard-worker; attentive to detail; perseveres; winner.  It wasn’t necessarily going to be so.  In 2011 the career of Payton Manning almost ended, when after his fourth neck surgery in two years, the nerve in his right arm was no longer working properly.  As Peyton puts it, “I was down, because I wasn’t able to do what I love and I didn’t know where I was headed. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to perform again. I had those thoughts. They were real.” (SI 12.23.13) But Peyton persevered, through injury, through being rejected by his team, all the way back to the pinnacle of his profession. And that is the super lesson that inspires boys and girls like Peyton Williams.  You can quit in the face of adversity, or you can choose to do what it takes to come all the way back, to become a winner in life.

May God grant all of us, whatever our name, the wisdom to know that most of the time, “you decide how you turn out.”  Lesson learned?