Unity

A few weeks ago I sat in Sacrament Meeting in the Singles Ward I usually attend. It was High Counsel Sunday meaning two members of the Stake High Counsel were addressing us. One of the speakers was talking about unity and he related the following story. (This is paraphrased)

“When I was in high school I played on the basketball team. We had 3 players on that team that were recruited to play college basketball. Despite having exceptional talent, our team lost more games than we won.
As a student at BYU I regularly played basketball on one of the courts on campus. One day I overheard a few students talking about some BYU professors that they had played earlier that day. The three professors who were all over 50 dominated.

The next semester in my English class the professor made it known that if anyone liked to play basketball, he and two other professors like to play every day at noon at one of the courts on campus and were always looking for a challenge. I went down to that court one day and got a few guys who looked like they knew how to play to come with me to challenge the professors.

We could run faster, jump higher and play longer than the professors but they easily won. What was the difference between these three professors and my high school basketball team? The professors had played together for 20 years. They knew each other’s weaknesses and strengths. They knew where the other ones were going to be and they worked together.

My high school team had a lot of talent but they didn’t work together. Some players were more interested in their individual stats than the good of the team. There were ball hogs and certain players they would never pass the ball to.”

Even if we don't have the most talent. The more united we are in a purpose, the stronger we will be.