Tomorrow is scheduled to see the last important football match of the season. It’s the Champions League final. After that there will be a few international matches here and there with some youth tournaments around, but to all intents and purposes those of us who enjoy feeding from the game of football will engage in a ten week fast as we patiently endure the holidays.
One of the things I enjoy about the game is how it depends on a collection of individuals who are motivated, trained and organised to function in a particular way that maximises their combined abilities to win games. Folks will say it was individual brilliance that won a game – and though it appears appealing, there is more to it than that. For though a player scores, he needs his teammates to ensure they don’t concede rendering the whole scoring thing redundant. The game is made of a collection of contributions from players to stop opponents scoring and to set up opportunities to score too. That works best by the players knowing their roles, working well together and passionately pursuing the prize together.
I am fairly certain there are people who don’t appreciate how important they are to passionately pursuing the prize of peace. So well have we been molly-coddled and pampered and encouraged to just be consumers, customers and clients, that being active participants knowing our role and working well with others to achieve the prize worth pursuing, part of the challenge is to even acknowledge how important that is.
God in His infinite wisdom, sees it fit to be glorified most in the relationships we have with each other. The sooner we get to grips with that, the better for our families, communities and far beyond.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden