In a world where it seems that so many things are critically important and stress-inducing, I would hope that games are among the few things that are considered not to matter, and that people could play them just for the fun of playing, without worrying about who is going to win or who may or may not be cheating. At the end of the day, it's only a game. It really doesn't matter who wins or loses.
What does matter when playing games is how a person behaves. I had almost said that it doesn't matter how one wins or loses, but if a person cheats to win, or acts discourteously when winning or losing, that does matter. How well one plays doesn't matter nearly so much as how well one behaves while playing.
Competition can be a good thing. The challenge to outdo each other can encourage us to do our best. However, it can also encourage us to exhibit behavior that isn't our best. We should try not to get too invested in the games we play. We should try to accept that sometimes we'll have good luck and sometimes we'll have bad luck. Sometimes, we'll play well, and sometimes we'll play poorly. Sometimes, we'll win, and sometimes we'll lose.
In his April 2016 General Conference talk, Elder Kevin R. Duncan said:
Brothers and sisters, in the competitions of life, if we win, let us win with grace. If we lose, let us lose with grace. For if we live with grace toward one another, grace shall be our reward at the last day.I don't think it's going to matter to God how many games we won or how competitively or even how well we played. What will matter to Him is whether or not we acted like disciples of Jesus Christ, even when our games were or were not going well for us. Games are trivial. Play for fun. Do your best. But always try to play your games as Christ would have you play them, with grace, and with the recognition that are behaviour while playing games is far more important than whether we win or lose.
1 comment:
This comment is coming from someone who loves to play games and has been told by her husband, on numerous occasions, that she is "extremely" competitive! I agree wholeheartedly with the messages shared in this article. I will need to admit that I have learned some of these lessons myself, through the mistake of my focusing too much on "the win", rather than the simple enjoyment of the game. I am still refining myself in this area of my life (just one of the numerous), but I really am making a conscience effort to try and make the games shared me, a pleasure for my opponents as well as for myself. Aaargh! (See, I still used that word, "opponents", not friends, not family members)......baby steps.
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