When Your Team Loses

On Monday (Nov 26th) I was watching the NFL game between Pittsburg and Miami.  It was a terrible evening to play.  Rain, wind and even lightning delayed the game for 20 minutes.  Needless to say my team lost 3-0.  Now Miami is 0-11.  They lost with 17 seconds left to play.  I was bummed.

After the game was over I was thinking, "Man! A lot of my teams are losing!" The Broncos lost, the Giants lost.  Kansas lost.  The Denver Nuggets lost, and the memory of the Colorado Rockies losing the World Series is still a vivid reality.  What is going on?

And then I thought, "Why is this such a big deal?" I don't know anyone on the teams I was rooting for. They don't know me.  The sun will come up the next morning and life will go on.  So what is the big deal?

Well, for one thing, we all need something or someone to cheer for.  It is important to develop loyalties. It keeps your life interesting. For another, when you root for a team it helps you to appreciate all the effort that goes with winning. And one more thing! Life's a lot like an athletic contest — you win some, you lose some. Most of the time you learn more from losing than you do from winning. You just can't take it so seriously that you forget it's just a game that grown men are playing.

So how's your team doing? If you don't have one, pick one. Remember Niebuhr's prayer .. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference."

And when you lose, you walk across the field and congratulate the winning team. No sense being a sore loser — we'll get 'em the next time!

Don't forget to listen to our Advent teachings on the podcast found at podcast.hblondon.org. Talk to you next time.