Apophatica

Ah, ’tis that time of year again.  The air is cool and crisp, leaves are falling on the ground, and the winter clothes that have been in hibernation since April are making a reappearance.  What’s that you say?  What season do I speak of?  Autumn?  Yom Kippur?  No!  Football season, of course!  It’s only the most frustrating time of the year.  Regardless of the team we root for (Da Bears!) ahem, sorry, we all go through the same process.  Our QB is supposed to be better than over and has worked out his kinks in the offseason.  Our running back is in top shape and ready for another big year.  We have picked up some key receivers and a stud of a linebacker and we can’t be beat!  Until the first game or two, that is.  Then the frustration begins and we wonder why we are contributing to an industry that pays people hundreds of millions of dollars just to drive us crazy.

As most of you know, my sons are also playing football.  Neither one of them are having a very good year.  My oldest is on a team loaded with talent and great coaching, but for some reason just can’t seem to get things going.  Almost every game begins with the same expectation and ends with the same disappointment.  It’s easy to say “it’s just a game”, but when you have a pony in the race, so to speak . . . .

How many other things are there in life that we allow to have control over us?  How many “teams” do we root for that may give us temporary elation, but most of the time just break our hearts?  They may not immediately come to mind, but if we really think about it, there are plenty of cases where we give control to someone else in our lives.  What if we had that much excitement and devotion over being the church?  What if we got as pumped up when helping a person in need as we do when we see the team coming running out on to the field?  Ah yes, good ‘ole priorities.  Sure, the person we help may disappoint us in the end, too, but at least we are doing what we have been called to.

So, should we quit watching sports and stop rooting for our favorite teams?  No way!  Let’s just remember that in the end, it really is “just a game.”  Ok, time to bust out my Urlacher jersey and ready the Pepto-Bismol!

This entry was posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.