It’s the morning after the SuperBowl and some people are rejoicing and others are weeping. The real question is, how much did last night’s win or loss change your life? If you bet all your money on the Seahawks and you’re more wealthy, then you have new problems because of more money. If you bet everything on the Broncos and you lost all your money, then you also have new problems (and possibly need a place to live). But in the grand scheme of things, a loss or win doesn’t mean anything to your personal life. I realized this about 3 years ago with my beloved Buccaneers. I still root for them, but I don’t yell at the tv or throw things or have a crappy attitude after they lose (which they did a lot of this past year) because it was consuming too much of my mental capacity in life. It was the same with the Broncos last night. I have lived in Denver for almost 13 years and always want to see them do well. Last night was no exception. I wanted to see Payton Manning win another SuperBowl and the Broncos cap off an amazing record setting season. It was not to be and the Seahawks won.
I think the renaissance in my thinking came from a couple of things. When I got sick with my eye condition for 5 years I didn’t care about a lot, including life or even living. Football and rooting for one team or another wasn’t even on my radar screen. I just didn’t want to go blind. When I got better I realized that all of the emotional energy I put towards things that don’t concern me is just not worth it. I am not saying that I am perfect now, but that I have a better perspective on sports teams I root for and how it impacts my life. The other thing that happened was I started to help oversee our orphanage in Nepal. To see what our kids over there deal with on a daily basis makes a SuperBowl loss for my football team pale in comparison.
There are SO MANY other things we need to emotionally invest in on a daily basis that are more important, including our relationships to others and our relationship to God. Seeing players from both teams last night praying together was better to me than anything else about the game (and not just because my Broncos lost :). Too many people in life have their priorities all mixed up. This post may make you angry but think about why you don’t like what I am saying. Don’t let a “pastime sport” consume your life so much that it endangers relationships around you because of your bad attitude from a loss or arrogance from a win. I want my life to matter more than the sports teams I rooted for or personal accomplishments that lift me up above my relationship to Jesus. The things that I want to matter in my life are connected to seeing others around me find a personal relationship to Jesus and helping those less fortunate than myself. If I consume my mind with THOSE things, than I can say that I lived a meaningful life for more than just the success or failure of a sports team I rooted for. Have a great week!
Holy Crap 