Last Season Often Stands In The Way Of New Seasons

​I watched Tommy Fleetwood win his first PGA golf tour event yesterday. On the surface that might not seem like a big deal. But trust me, this was not a surface win.

Fleetwood had played 163 tour events without a victory. That, in spite of often being so close. In fact, Fleetwood had been in the top five 30 times before winning yesterday - the most by any non-winner in PGA Tour history.

Even more, twice in the last six weeks, Fleetwood had squandered a lead on the last few holes when it looked certain he was about to capture his first win. In the online world, there were whispers of Fleetwood choking in big moments.

Well yesterday, here we go again. Fleetwood had the lead going into the final day. And then, going into the final hole. On top of that, this wasn’t just another PGA Tour stop. This was the Tour Championship -the season finale, golf’s Super Bowl.

Could Fleetwood's breakthrough really come in golf's season ending championship?

In his sermon this weekend, Steven Furtick talked about thoughts that sink us. Thoughts we refuse to drop that ultimately derail us. He said, "Drop it so you don't drown. Drop it so you don't keep sinking. Drop it so it doesn't weigh you down. Drop it so you don't miss the last next season that God wants to give you."

That hit home. It hit home right to the negative thoughts I've too often refused to drop; the bitterness, the resentment, the shame, the guilt, and the anger. All the emotions and thoughts I've held onto while unknowingly refusing to see new seasons.

Those two near misses Fleetwood had recently, the tournaments he let slip away, he could have refused to let go of the deflating thoughts that naturally came with those collapses. But he didn't. He dropped them. And as a result, yesterday Fleetwood won golf's Superbowl.

After the victory Fleetwood said:

“I’ve had to be resilient in terms of putting myself back up there, getting myself back in that position, no matter how many times it doesn’t go my way, no matter how many doubts might creep in, think the right things, say the right things to yourself, say the right things outwardly, and I am really pleased that I can be proof that if you do all the right things and you just keep going, that it can happen.”

Think the right things....

The thing is, it's impossible to think the right things when we are refusing to drop the thoughts keeping us prisoners in the wrong spaces. It's impossible to swim to victory when we continue to drown ourselves in our defeats.

We miss a lot of new seasons in life not because the seasons don't show up, but because we're too busy having toxic thoughts about a season long gone when they do.

We're too busy wrestling with all that went wrong to embrace the chances to make everything alright.

Well - thank you Tommy Fleetwood. Thank you for being proof. Proof that if we can find a way to drop it we won't drown. Thank you for reminding us that if we'll just keep swimming, there are some beautiful shores up ahead.

Thank you for reminding us that what can often look like choking is simply preparation.

Maybe today you feel like you're choking in some area of your life?

Well, drop that thought. Don’t drown. Because there’s a new season waiting, and you won’t see it until you let go of the last one.