Basketball

     One year I had a class that got into playing basketball. Well, I guess you could call it basketball. There were a lot of fuzzy spots on the rules, the teacher never having taken an interest in the sport before. But we made do, and made up rules we weren't sure about on the spot. This particular year there was an even number of boys and girls in the class, so they often liked to play with boys versus girls for teams.
    Of course, as is usually the case, the boys team was bigger, faster, stronger, and better at making baskets. The girls left the court exhausted and without a single point to their names. But then something changed. The girls learned to work together. They figured out how to pass. Not grand, long passes, but short, accurate ones. They learned to back each other up and to wait in an unguarded spot for the ball. The boys, meanwhile, continued to play a version of each man for himself. They preferred to snatch the ball, sometimes even from their own teammates, and make a drive for the basket, hoping to snag the glory of the moment. The boys couldn't believe it when the girls actually started winning. Their dismay was so complete I almost felt sorry for them. 
    How have you found the basketball games in your life lately? In order to stay faithful in these last days, we must learn to work together. We need to trust our teammates. We need to learn to share our burdens with others. We must find the relief in learning to give and take. We have to blend together into a unified team, not attempting to become the MVP by doing all the work ourselves. 
    There are days, yes, that it looks like the rest of the team has entirely lost all common sense. We are left standing unguarded before the basket while everyone else seems to be busy with the ball down the court. But it is true that if the Evil One has left us thus, he surely considers us no threat.
    Sometimes we feel it is our duty to carry our burdens with no help. Perhaps we haven't learned to trust our fellow teammates. Perhaps we don't trust our captain or coach or the Owner of the Team. Maybe we are too proud to admit to needing help. Don't be! One player is never expected to stand against an entire team. 
    There are even days we try to take other people's burdens, snatching straight from their dismayed fingers a ball that it is not our job to carry, although it is not the right time and we are not in the right position for the job. It sometimes seems so difficult to hear the quiet voice from the sidelines over our own eager minds.
    Blending together, we will become a force to be reckoned with. As we learn to act with one mind toward the common goal of Heaven, we will learn also that there are days we need to give up the things that we have valued so much. Other days we will need to accept that we have work to do, not just relaxing on the sidelines. As we learn this back and forth, we will find ourselves growing together with the rest of the team.
    The Psalmist says Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalms 133:1) We don't have to do it by our own humanness. On our own we are not able to make the kind of sacrificing of our ideas that being part of the team requires. Of ourselves we cannot always bear the entire burden. There are times we acquire a twisted ankle. There are days the other team sends guards so large and fierce we can't begin to see a way past them. But remember, we are part of a team, and the Owner has promised ...where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20). 
    I want to learn to play a better game, to trust my team, to pass the ball, to not try to be my own MVP. And to you, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for being faithful. It is a privilege and blessing beyond compare to play beside you on the same team.
    Wishing you a blessed day!