Did you know that a flea has a thirty-six-inch vertical jump? That is over 550 times its body size. If a 6-foot man could jump that high, he could leap 3,300 feet, or the equivalent of jumping over three Empire State buildings stacked on top of each other in a single bound. That truly would be Superman-like!

Even though the flea, through its genetics, can jump 3 feet in the air, if you put a flea in a jar, it will still try to jump that high. After banging its head on the lid of the jar, it will adjust its height to jump only high enough to keep from hitting the lid if baby fleas are born while in the jar, they will only jump as high as they observe the adult fleas, regardless of their innate ability to jump higher. The lid of the jar stifles the flea's ability, like Kryptonite to Superman. Remove the lid, and the fleas will begin jumping like "Superflea" again!

There are many types of "lids" that limit our ability.

Sometimes, parents squelch their children's abilities by making statements discouraging them from reaching their potential. I have had conferences where parents have said, in front of their child, “I was never good in school" ,"didn’t like history", and many other declarations that give students a reason not to excel. This is a lid. Higher expectations influence performance. Those who expect more get more. Charles Kettering, head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947, once said" “High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation." The opposite is true. Low expectations undermine achievement. Those who expect less get less. If you expect someone to perform poorly, there is a high probability they will not deliver better results. Students can rise to the bar of achievement.

Sometimes, we place a lid on our abilities when we compare ourselves to others. We look around and see what others are doing (or not doing), and we place the lid on ourselves to rise to the level of our peers. Years ago, I saw a teenager wearing a tee shirt that said, “Show me your friends, I'll show you your future".  There is much truth in that statement. How often do we allow the impressions of others to affect our direction, attitude, or abilities? Far too many times, we have stunted our growth.

Sometimes, our self-concept is poor, and we have convinced ourselves that we cannot be the best or successful. We believe we are destined for a life of mediocrity. Whenever I would tell my mom that “can't do somethin", she would respond with a quirky little statement, “Well can't never could do anything because he wouldn't try”. When I coached soccer, I would talk to young men about trying out. Many times, their response was "I can’t play soccer I'm not any good". I would say to try it, you might like it. I made a deal with them; if they came out, practiced, and stayed through the first game, they could quit, and I would never bother them about playing again. Did you know that I never had one player quit in 18 years of coaching Varsity Soccer? They removed the lid they had placed on themselves.

In moving toward our dream, we must visualize to realize. We must believe in ourselves and be surrounded by those who challenge us to do our best. Someone once said that "it is a sin to do less than your best". In the poem entitled The Victor, poet George Longnecker writes,

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you’d like to win but think you can't,

It’s almost certain you won't.

For out in the world, we find,

Success begins in a fellow's will

It's all in a state of mind,

If you think you're outclassed, you are

You've got to think high to rise.

You've got to believe in yourself.

Before you can ever win a prize ….

In the movie Hoosiers, Gene Hackman plays Coach Norm Dale. He takes over a rag-tag, undisciplined, small-school basketball program in the fictitious town of Hickory, Indiana. The movie features a group of boys who do three things: school, farming, and basketball, not necessarily in that order.

Throughout the movie, Coach Dale weathers some storms and conflicts but eventually gains the loyalty of the young men. There is a superstar athlete, Jimmy Chitwood, who has sworn off basketball due to the loss of the previous coach, who was like a father to him. Eventually, Coach Dale wins over Jimmy through the consistent discipline and relationships he built with the boys.

The team is remarkably successful despite its lack of fancy facilities and numbers. At the end of the season, it wins the sectionals and regionals and advances to the state championship game. It is a basic “David and Goliath” matchup. Their opponent had everything that Hickory did not have.

The game goes down to the wire. Hickory has the last shot; they are down by one. Coach Dale calls timeout and shares the plan for the final shot. With the boys on the bench, Coach Dale tells the boys that Jimmy will be used as a decoy because the other team will expect him to take the shot. They plan to run the “picket fence",  where a player screens the defensive player, and the offensive player comes around the foul line, gets the ball, and shoots. Jimmy is told to draw the defense to the corner, away from the shot.

The next scene sets the stage. The team has their doubts about the coach's plan. They are all looking down, defeated, hesitant to break the huddle and take the court. Coach Dale asks them, "What's wrong with you?” No one says anything. Jimmy perceives the team's thoughts and speaks his last line of the movie "I'll make it!” He did not say that in a cocky or disrespectful manner; he was simply confident and believed in himself. (Spoiler alert). Coach Dale quickly revises the plan, so Jimmy gets the ball in the final seconds. He makes it! Hickory wins the Indiana State Championship! He removed the lid and allowed potential to excel.

Associations affect attitude. Attitude determines aptitude. Aptitude dictates altitude. If you put an oak tree seed in a pot, it will grow, but it will never reach its potential because of the restraints of the pot. There is nothing wrong with the seed. Its environment hindered its potential. In a sense, we are all seeds that God has planted. He has created each of us with specific talents and abilities. A limitless God does not want us to place limits on ourselves. William Carey, the father of modern missions, claimed his life’s motto was, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God".

The Bible does not say we are not supposed to think of ourselves. We are cautioned not to think pridefully of ourselves, but understanding what we can do is by the gracious hand of God. (Romans 12:3). Cockiness and swagger are not characteristics of confidence.   In Proverbs 23:7, the Bible says,  “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he ". That verse is often quoted to point out how the heart is deceitful; evil actions begin with wicked thoughts. It would also apply to how we deceive ourselves with self-doubt and defeatism by binding God's’s desire to mold a masterpiece with our lives through His grace. Ephesians 2:10 states, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto all good works".

We must remove the lid no matter who put it there or how long it has been there!