Motivational Meanderings--Lionel Messi

"There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game."--Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is a pretty famous soccer player. He probably knows a little something about winning and losing. He's probably experienced both in his lifetime, quite often.

Last night, I had the privilege of watching a local high school baseball game. One of my favorite teams, with one of my favorite players, was playing a cross-town rival.

At the beginning of the game, the rivals took a 4 to 0 lead over the home team. It wasn't looking good until the pitcher walked a couple batters, one batter got a base hit, and then another (with bases loaded) hit an over the fence grand slam! 

The game was tied.

A couple of innings later, the home team pulled ahead by a couple of runs.

The pitcher was doing a great job. He had walked a couple of batters, but who hasn't? Then, the batter from the rival team leaned into a pitch and the umpired said the pitcher hit the batter. The batter took the base.

Unfortunately, the coach for the home team decided that it was time to change pitchers. So, he did.

Things went downhill quickly. The rival team tied up the game. There were several errors on the part of players on the home team, bobbled catches, bad throws. It's like they fell apart.

The home team couldn't keep the rivals from scoring the go-ahead run.

Then, the home team couldn't get their bats going to catch up in the final inning of the game.


We all know, in life, there are more important things than winning and losing. However, we all know that there are times that the outcome could have been different if someone, like the coach, would have made a better decision in the game. 

It's hard as parents, family, and friends to watch as this unfolds. It's hard as players to see your team falling apart because of something you can't control.

As Christians, we have to remember that even when we feel like we may be losing, God has a bigger plan. We have to wait until the entire game is over to see how it turns out.

Last night's game didn't turn out the way we'd hoped for the home team. Today's sports headlines will read something like, "Home team loses hard fought battle to cross town rivals"! 

However, we have to keep our eyes on the things that are important.  I've always heard that it doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game. If you played your best and you played with the right attitude, then you did your job!  Maybe the score will show it next time!