Why Messi Walks
- David Oaks
- Jul 20
- 5 min read
Like a lot of Americans, the World Cup has pulled me deeper into soccer. It used to feel slow. Now it feels strategic. What once looked like people simply running around a field now feels like a kind of moving chess match: full of patience, pressure, anticipation, and sudden beauty.
I have a few new heroes. Spain’s Lamin Yamal, and Norway’s Erling Haaland. And, in a league by himself, superstar Lionel Messi has grabbed my admiration. Its his strategy that has my attention.
His strategy? He mostly walks.
While the game swirls around him, defenders sprint, midfielders collide and fans roar, Messi often appears almost detached from the action.
Strolling, scanning, studying, and most of all…
Waiting.
To the casual observer, it can look like laziness. To the informed observer, it is genius. Messi is not disengaged. He is seeing.
Mapping the field, watching the hips of defenders, observing the space between the center back and the fullback. He is noticing which midfielder is tired, which defender is leaning in the wrong direction, which passing lane is about to open before anyone else knows it exists.
Walking… Scanning… Waiting…
Looking for the right moment. For Messi, not all time is created equal. Some time is endured. Some time is avoided. And some time has to be seized!
And this may be one of my greatest takeaways from the World Cup: not all moments are equal. Messi spends an inordinate amount of time walking and looking for opportunity.
And then, suddenly, he moves. He is an expert at realizing the special moments where one touch, one pass, one acceleration changes everything. Some pundits call his ability “divine.”
Messi understands something that many of us forget: not all time is created equal.
Like Messi, the Greeks realized that all time is not equal. They spoke of time in two ways. Chronos, where we get words like chronology and chronological. Chronos is clock time, calendar time, measurable time. It’s the kind of time we manage, schedule, count, and often try to control. In chronos, one second is not worth more than another second. Time simply moves forward.
And this may be one of my greatest takeaways from the World Cup: not all moments are equal.
But the Greeks noticed that some moments or seasons seemed appointed, marked by significance, challenge, opportunity, decision, and consequence.
They gave these moments and seasons a special name: kairos.
“Kairos” time is a pivotal point in our lives where something happens, a decision is made, or an opportunity is presented, which results in:
Further limitation OR
Further enhancement
For finishing well (and great soccer!), kairos time is supremely important. People who finish well become increasingly more sensitive to the power in some moments more than others.
They grow to appreciate the power of kairos time.
There is an old phrase from early Christian wisdom that captures this posture: be ready “in season (eukairōs) and out of season (akairōs).” The original Greek carries the sense of being prepared both in and out of the kairos moment.
Look for kairos moments & seasons. Notice them. Embrace them. JUST DON’T MISS THEM.
Sadly, most Kairos moments pass by unnoticed and leave very little behind. I think it is because we have not been trained to look for them, embrace them and squeeze all their potential from them.
These moments and seasons ask something of us, invite a decision, open a door, create an opportunity that may not come again in the same way. These are kairos moments. Moments when the future seems unusually dependent on how we see, discern, and respond.
Our culture is obsessed with chronos. We wear watches, manage calendars, count birthdays, track deadlines, and measure productivity.
But the deeper life is often shaped by kairos.
A kairos moment is a point in a person’s life, a family’s story, a church’s history, an organization’s future, or a nation’s destiny where something happens, an opportunity is presented, or a decision must be made that can alter the course of what comes next.
Kairos moments may be positive or negative, but they are never neutral.
As we age and grow, we should be growing more in our ability to recognize these moments and seasons and be ready to respond.
The tragedy is that many of us miss them. Not because the moments are not there. But because we are not looking for them.
The Discipline of Seeing
Messi’s greatness is not only in his feet. It is in his eyes.
He sees what others miss because he has trained himself to pay attention. His walking is not wasted motion. It is disciplined perception.
My Muslim friends tell me that the word Shukr شكر in the Qu’ran speaks to this : The amount of beautiful things in your life depends on your ability to notice them.
This is a profound image for life. Especially for those of us who want to finish well.
Finishing Well is not simply about aging gracefully. It is not merely about retirement, financial planning, or staying busy after the kids are grown. Finishing Well is the mindset that helps us see the later chapters of life not as decline, but as convergence.
Convergence.
Convergence is the season where wisdom, purpose, contribution, and legacy can come together in their greatest impact.
But convergence requires attentiveness.
If we believe the future is only decline, we stop scanning the field. We stop expecting meaningful opportunities. Assume our most important moments are behind us. Settle into maintenance. Manage our losses. We slowly surrender the possibility that God, life, or calling may still have something for us to see and seize.
But if the last quarter is convergence, then we must keep looking.
There may still be a:
Pass to make
Person to mentor
Room to enter
Book to write
Word to speak.
Burden to carry.
There may still be one more contribution that only accumulated wisdom can make.
Some Moments Are Pregnant
A pregnant moment does not always announce itself loudly.
Sometimes it looks like:
… a conversation
…a phone call
…a question from a younger leader
…a transition you did not choose
…an ache that will not go away
…a door closing
…a door opening
Sometimes it looks like retirement, loss, restlessness, another book or assignment.
My friend Harry T. Jones teaches that some of an entrepreneur’s greatest insights often come in unexpected moments before and after scheduled meetings. This is kairos hiding inside chronos.
Selah. Pause and think about noticing and taking advantage of kairos times and seasons.
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