Every day for the past two weeks a soccer camp has been training behind my house. I’m guessing the crew is a bunch of 13 year olds, maybe 14, and I know for a fact they are boys cause yesterday the coach yelled, “Smartin’ up. Stop watching the girls on roller blades. EYES. ON. THE BALL!”
Oh did I laugh.
Five minutes later I read this passage of scripture:
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
~Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
As I read, ”two people are better off than one…”
The coach yelled… “You are a team. Never forget that!”
As I read, “for they can help each other succeed…”
The coach yelled… “You win and lose as a team, boys.”
As I read, “If one person falls, the other can reach out and help…”
The coach yelled… “Hunter, get in there! Maddox is being swarmed by opponents!”
I shut my Bible and pondered the concept of a team.
1. A united group who share each other’s burdens and motivate one another to keep on keepin’ on.
I know. What a craAaAaAaAzy concept. In this dog-eat-dog society where everyone is out for themselves, it’s so NOT cool to slow down. Slowing down means you’re weak, you’ve lost your focus, your drive, you have no ambition to compete with the best of the best.
LIES.
Slowing down to carry a burden or encourage a fellow human being makes you successful at what matters most: PEOPLE. You won’t be taking that pimped out hummer to heaven.
The ability to share each other’s burdens means, when someone you care about is going through a difficult time, so are you. But in return, when YOU are going through a difficult time, you are not alone.
Reciprocal relationship. See how that works.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
~Hebrews 10:24-25
2. A unified group of players equally talented but comprised of various positions.
It’s a terrible and disheartening thing in our society that the front man gets all the glory while the back burners are made to feel unimportant. The face that is typically plastered all over the big screen is the talent who just scored the goal. But a team is a team. Period. Whether you play right wing, mid field, defence, or goalie… whether you coach, assist, or carry the water, a team dynamic couldn’t exist without variety. Who would pay hard-earned money and invest precious time into watching a game where every player was the goalie? Boring.
Comparison is killing us.
The only way we will ever carry each other’s burdens and motivate one another towards love and good works is by appreciating the talents we DO have and accepting the talents we DON’T have.
In it’s most basic form: be the best you can be and encourage other people to be the best they can be. Voila! That’s it! I’m not exactly sure how and why it got more complicated than that.
If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
~Romans 12:8
3. A united group of supportive members striving for like-minded vision and purpose.
We have everything.
We can go anywhere.
We can be anyone.
We can do anything.
This is both incredibly freeing and incredibly binding.
There are many games to be played.
Many prizes to be won.
Many enticing and misleading achievements fighting for our attention.
But friends, here me when I say this:
Choose wisely the game you play.
Choose wisely the team you join.
Choose wisely the advice you follow.
But most importantly…
Choose wisely the people you run with.
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
~Proverbs 27:17&19
Huh! Whodda thunk a soccer camp could teach me so much. ☺
