Competition

It’s it amazing how we try to out-do one another?  Whether it is friendly but emotional competition on a sports field or not so friendly political discussions we try to look better than someone else.

What makes us do that?  Why do we have to be better than someone else?  Jesus said that if you want to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven you must become servant of all.  So why do we try to impress people with our abilities?  Why do we strive to be number one?

We hold on to some things tightly and value them dearly.  Like a reputation.  Once damaged, a reputation is not easily fixed.  One unkind word leads to another and whether true or not the impact on a person can be life changing.  The thing about a reputation though, it is like a shadow.  It can show you only a limited impression of a person.  It doesn’t show you who that person really is.  It is just an outline.  And it can be changed based on the source of the light.

How else do we try to out-do one another?  Do we give out awards based on achievements?  Do we follow people around with cameras because their lives are more interesting than ours?  Do we tend to think more highly of ourselves if we are more important or successful than others?  Again, what would Jesus say about that?

Still, it is human nature that brings out competition.  To some degree animals do fight to be the head of the herd, but they don’t hold conferences to teach self discipline or better hunting maneuvers.  Only humans tend to value being number one to that degree.  Whether we actually are number one or not doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is: are we the best we can be?  Are we contributing to our family, our church, society, and the world as much as we can while keeping everything in balance?

All the above came from perhaps too much caffeine too early in the morning.  Consider it a bonus.  Here’s the story that began all this.  I was washing two of our kids in the bathtub.  As they were playing, trying to be better than one another, Caleb said, “I know karate.”  Hannah said, “Well, I know adult karate.”  Caleb said, “I know God karate.”  (Gee, how can you beat that?)  Hannah said, “I know all kinds of karate.”

I didn’t have to teach them competition.  It’s human nature.  It’s too funny when it is little kids acting this way.  At some point I hope they mature to the point where they will care more about helping each other than being better than one another.  I have heard it said that you don’t really know how good a parent you were until you see how your grandkids turn out.  I’ve got a long wait.