Second Place...or Worse

March 25, 2023

It’s the season for disappointment. It’s all around.

In Major League Baseball, many of the 50 or so players that have been with the club at spring training will not make the major league roster, which will be reduced to 26 next week.

In college basketball, 68 teams were invited to the national tournament. After one loss, a team goes home. The players and their whole schools are disappointed.

Farmers have watched their fruit trees carefully through the winter. Everything can look quite promising. A freezing night at this time of year can be devastating for the crop.

High schools have announced their valedictorians and honor grads. Some students came up just a little short and will see someone else awarded on graduation day.

Things happen. Things don’t turn out right every time. Spring can be joyful and filled with new beginnings. It can also be a time of dashed hopes.

Is there any reason to even try, with only a small chance of the success we really want?

There’s great reward in working toward a goal, whether you win or not. It gives your life direction. You’re not just drifting! Just as exercise firms up flabby muscles, doesn’t working toward a goal firm up a flabby life?

There’s joy in the journey! In our working and striving and discipline, God is making something special out of each of us. I think that’s a major part of the last of the Ten Commandments, “Don’t covet what your neighbor has.” In other words: Get your own!

I Corinthians 9:24-25 says, “Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.”