Every year, my son plays basketball through the Upward program. Upward is a church based sports program. The kids are taught Bible lessons and verses along with basic mechanics of the game. For the younger kids, they don’t keep score, and the focus, instead, is meant to be on sportsmanship and teamwork. But, as we have learned, the kids all keep a mental score anyways!
The 2019 season was a great season. My son wasn’t thrilled about the team name; They were the Volunteers. His disappointment with the team’s name quickly disappeared when they won their first game, and then won another. The won every game that season and were the only team in their division to go undefeated! The kids were so excited- and their excitement only increased with each game they won. It was so fun to watch and be part of the winning team. The kids were too young to be part of the playoff bracket, but their coach bought each of them a trophy to commemorate the season.
When the 2020 season started, we tried to get the Volunteers back together. For various reasons, we weren’t able to get the same team again. One kid wasn’t old enough. One kid decided to do another sport. A few of the kids just didn’t sign up for the season. But, we were still optimistic that we would have a great season.
That optimism died quickly- with our first loss. And then another loss. And then a THIRD loss. We went from an undefeated season to a win-less season. We lost every game- except our last game. It was a horrible season, and such a swing of emotions. We went from the high of a winning season to the low of a torturous season. It was so defeating to send my son out there every week, knowing that he was going to come back with a loss. Because there were so few teams in their league, their team had to participate in the playoffs. It was like rubbing salt in our wounds.
I think this was a great lesson for our whole family about handling loss (as innocent as it was) and success. No matter what the outcome for the game, we would still be there, cheering our hearts out. We would still go to practice. We would still work on shooting and drills. We still talked about team work and success. We learned as much during a losing season as we did during the winning season. We were just as invested in our 2020 season as we were in our 2019 season.
In hindsight, it was a great preparation for this season of our lives. While it may feel like we are constantly losing a battle, we cannot forget to do what we know to do. Breath. Pray. Love. Stand in faith. Be a source of encouragement.
Job says it like this in Job 23: 8-10
