Loose To Win


            How can the perfect, Eternal God create anything but perfection? Believers and skeptics alike ask that question regularly, though for different reasons. Believers in Messiah Yeshua covet His holiness. Their consuming desire is to become perfect(mature, complete) as He is perfect, but only for His glory. Skeptics, however, ask the question thinking they've uncovered the ultimate, Biblical self-contradiction. Sorry skeptic, that argument is as old and stale as skepticism itself.

            I tend to see myself as a perfect example of imperfection, identifying with such cartoon characters as Charlie Brown and Brutus Thornapple. As Charlie Brown, the world is my Lucy, and as Brutus, the world is my boss, Rancid W. Veeblefester. But do I feel sorry for myself? Hell yes, I feel sorry for myself! And I used the H word because that is exactly where self-pity comes from. My point is, I realize that fact, and when I catch myself doing it I boot myself in the bum hard enough and often enough to get myself moving in the right direction.
            People love to win, as evidenced by the popular phrase, "Second place is first looser." True winners, however, don't win all the time. They know full well that a competitor doesn't learn by winning. In fact, champions painfully realize that their replacement is working his way up through the ranks, loosing some, and winning some.
            Winning and self-pity are mutually exclusive; if one who is used to winning looses a round and reacts with self-pity, he has just become a true looser. If, however, he learns from his loss and tries harder the next time, loosing is just a step in the process of winning.