“I don’t understand football, but I’ll get season passes just for the social aspect!”
I said this my freshman year at BYU.
I grew up in a household of all sisters and football seemed like a weird, confusing sport.
It wasn’t just “score a goal”— there were tons of weird rules for how to get there and all sorts of strange hand motions and formations.
So I was the stereotypical clueless girl attending football games, yelling “first down” when everyone else did, just having fun.
“Football is so confusing! None of it makes sense!”
But I actually hate not knowing what’s going on, so curiosity got the best of me.
I started asking questions.
“Why is everyone booing?” “What do the downs even mean?” “What position is that guy playing?”
And surprisingly… football started to make sense!
I “got it”. I could attend a game and make a comment while sounding vaguely educated.
It turns out that if you never ask questions about how football works, it will always seem confusing.
And it turns out that as soon as you start asking questions, you start learning and things make sense.
It reminds me of the classic exchange between Nephi and his brothers:
“And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?
“And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.” (1 Nephi 15:8-9)
AKA— I don’t know how football works because no one has told me.
Even Zephaniah prophesied:
“And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him.” (Zephaniah 1:6)
He’s teaching us that the people who turn away from the Lord are the ones who aren’t inquiring for Him.
They aren’t seeking Him. They aren’t yearning for a relationship with Him. They aren’t asking Him the questions in their hearts.
If we want more knowledge, a stronger relationship, or more devotion, we can’t forget how essential it is to inquire from the original Source.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
