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Winning and Losing

I watched a great movie last night, maybe you have seen it- When the Game Stands Tall?  It's about a high school football team and their record making winning streak. It's based on a true story and I just love those!  But it's really about more than football. If you haven't seen it, I apologize that I am about to give a couple of spoil alerts. But don't let that stop you from renting it and watching it with your family. There is a great life lesson in it for all of us, especially if you are raising preteen or teen boys.

The biggest take away for me was when the team's winning streak was broken. They were devastated. These high school boys that were to carry on the legacy of winning for their school lost their first game. With their head in their hands, they were crying in the locker room. The coaches however, seemed to be more concerned with how the boys were reacting to and handling this devastation. 

I loved what the assistant coach said to them. "They played better than us and we lost a high school game. That's football. But that's not YOU. Don't let a game define who you are. Let the way you live your life do that". I had to push pause and jot that down so I wouldn't forget it. It stopped me in my tracks. Obviously, I'm not playing football but I can relate to this in life in general. In the past I let my failures define me. I quit college so I'm a dropout. I made poor choices when I was young and stupid so I'm a loser. I really screwed up with my kids and yelled so I'm a bad mom..... I allowed those things to define me. Thankfully, God has changed me. In His eyes and because of His grace, I am a winner! I now want the way I live my life to define me. 

How much does the world view put us in this arena of winning and losing? If you're doing well financially, you are winning. If not then you are losing. If you weigh and look a certain way you are winning. If you are out serving others you are winning and if you aren't out feeding the homeless then you are losing. If people like you and you have X amount of followers and "friends" on social media then surely you are winning. If your kids are succeeding in the way the world views "success" then you are indeed a winner. And if not, well then you must be loser. We can let that define us. But that isn't who we are.  

So much pressure to win, win, win. But just like the movie, it's not about winning the game, rather the so-called losing that teach us about character and integrity in life. In life there are many losses and failures. In my life and in my family we definitely have had our share of wins and we are thankful. And we have sat in the locker room with our head in our hands and cried over some losses. 

Those losses aren't who we are, they do not define us. Just because we failed at something or lost a game doesn't make us failures or losers.  At the end of the day there are more important things in life than comparing my wins and losses to another's. I want how I live my life to define me not my losses by the world's standards. And it's those losses that teach me and motivate me to live my life better for Him who saved me.  That is winning! 

Pressing On 


"Without failure there is no achievement." John C. Maxwell


“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”
Luke 9:25 NIV


“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Mark 8:35 NIV

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