Faith, sports, and what is really important

An article for the Kittson County Enterprise, September 18 edition
 
            I remember vividly my high school baseball coach telling us as a team one day early in the season that baseball was the most important thing any time we were with the team for practice or a game. Outside of those times, faith and family and all sorts of things were more important than baseball, but during baseball time baseball was all that mattered. Rewind a couple hours and I had just listened to my choir director telling us that during choir rehearsal and performances choir was the most important thing. Outside of choir time other things were important, but when it came to scheduled choral events choir was all that mattered. Naturally, my baseball practices and choir concerts almost always seemed to overlap.

I get it. My coach and choir director were each teaching me about commitment, and hard work, and excellence. The lessons learned in any sport or activity can—and do—carry over into countless others in life, so I’m not going to pretend like baseball and choir did not matter. In part they make me the person that I am today. However, I do have to take issue with this idea that any sport or any activity is ever the most important thing at any moment in time. It’s not. I’m sorry.

I love sports. I love watching them and playing them—even ones I’m particularly not good at, as any of the guys with whom I play basketball can attest. Sports teach us all sorts of lessons about dedication and teamwork, and they are almost uniformly a good thing for one’s upbringing. However, sports are not an end to themselves. I think we forget this sometimes, whether it’s when we get wrapped up in our favorite pro or collegiate team, or else in the pride that comes from cheering for our local schools, especially when it’s our own kids. Sports matter, but they do not define us.

OK, this is a faith column, so you can probably see where I’m going here, but I also want to be clear: I’m not saying that the faith—or the church—trumps sports either. Instead, I think we need to be careful about how we talk about our priorities. I believe that faith matters, especially for young people, because through faith they gain an ability to see the world as a place desperately in need of something better. Faith also matters because it teaches our children to be humble, which is something they are taught so poorly in most of the rest of their lives, and it teaches them how to serve. Sports, at their best, teach the valuable lesson that it is about the team and not us as individuals, but faith teaches us that it is neither about me as an individual nor even all of us as a community. Instead, life is not about us at all, but rather it is about the God who created and redeemed us.

If we can start there, understanding that faith is a necessary part of teaching our sons and daughters to be human beings, then everything else can settle into place. Then, you can say that the team is incredibly important. Then, you can make certain that our young people are being taught commitment and hard work. Then, you can even care profoundly about winning and losing. These things matter, but they are only valuable if the foundation is already there. I worry that we are being taught that our primary way of identifying as human beings is in our ability to defeat an opponent at a given task. Even more subtly than that, I worry that we are being taught that the purpose of life is found in the limits to which you push yourself. I can resonate with that idea. It’s why you might see me peddling my bike or running, completely exhausted, down the street. I love the idea of pushing my limits, but the extent of my limitations broken is not my true measure as a human being.

We ground ourselves not in our achievements but in the God who we know in Jesus Christ. And we do this because we cannot save ourselves—no matter how much dedication and effort we put into it. Once we’ve done that—once we’re certain that our children know that they are loved and redeemed by the very God who created them—then we can rightfully demand their best. Without that faith and trust, no satisfaction from victory will endure, but once they discover their faith they are free to discover the heights and depths of what God has created them to be. The two things do go hand in hand. It’s just a matter of assuring the one before we prioritize the other.

It comes down to what we do and say in our daily lives, especially regarding how we parent and mentor our kids through sports and activities. How do we encourage our kids? What do we teach them? Sure, we hope they understand that they are loved and called “good,” but are we sure that they know it? For that matter, do our priorities demonstrate it for them?

As a new school year kicks into high gear these are important questions for us to consider. Know first that you are saved and redeemed and loved—no matter the messed-up priorities you sometimes have—but also know that, if you are a parent or a grandparent, a mentor or a coach, it is incumbent on you to make sure that your children know this as well.