I love this picture of Carolina Panthers tight end, Greg Olsen.
It is the perfect example of a game face.
Off the field, Greg is a family man. He’s warm, He’s fuzzy, He goes to PTA meetings.
On the field, you really don’t want to mess with him. He is a 6’5” beast.
Like those of us who have never played in the NFL, Greg Olsen has also had times off the field when he’s had to put on a game face.
His son has had serious health challenges.
The kind of hard times that draw you together as a family.
The Olsens have had to put on their game faces and fight for their boy.
Let me see your game face.
It’s a swagger or snarl that you bring out when things are about to get tough.
We all have those days…
hard, gray days when we have to press through.
We encounter cold days that offer more pain than promise.
We have to tackle opponents that we didn’t see coming.
THAT is when it’s time to put on our game face.
Sometimes we have to be strong for someone else, we share their fight and we wear a game face for them.
I have seen my wife’s game face often during this fight.
She is a beast.
Let me see your game face.
This is NOT “fake it til you make it”.
This is finding strength that you didn’t know you had.
It’s not putting on a happy face.
It’s drawing on resources that you only discover in the midst of the fight.
It’s letting those resources being reflected in your countenance.
Game faces are almost never pretty,
They are gritty,
They are sweaty,
They are more beast than beauty
They are hardly selfies.
They get your face in the fight.
They tell your opponent…
“I showed up and I mean business.”
It’s your mountain moving face.
It’s the face that won’t take no for an answer.
It’s the face that refuses to sit down, shut up, or move to the back of the bus.
It’s the wild eyed look that says…
I CAN not…WILL not give up.
it’s looking the bully in the eyes and saying…
I know your reputation.
I know your record.
BUT…
I know the ONE who fights for me.
The ONE who is good,
The ONE who is greater.
Let me see your game face.
carbonated joy 