Teamwork

Some things happened yesterday that caused me to think about teamwork.

First, my daughter Clara (shown here) played in her next-to-last soccer game of the season. Clara's team has done very well this year. No losses, one tie, and most victories have been decisive. Clara hasn't scored that many goals at all, but she is a vital part of the team. The team doesn't focus on who's scored the most goals, but they do focus on the fact that the Green Dragons are undefeated! Clara plays all positions well, but loves playing defender. Yes, she plays the entire game with that big smile plastered on her face.

Second, my daughter Hannah had her assessment for a basketball league she's playing in this fall. I was sitting with a coach while the assessment was going on, and though she's never played basketball on a team before, he commented that she seemed to know quite a bit of the basics...offense, defense, when to pass, when to shoot. I think she will learn a lot about teamwork in this experience.

Finally, the team I love to follow, the University of Georgia Bulldog football team, won it's seventh game of the season (with no losses). However, our starting quarterback was hurt during the game and had to sit out most of it and it was obvious how his absence hurt the team. They did win, but not decisively against a team over which they were favored by 17.

I guess I'm being introspective, but it caused me to consider my own role as a part of THE Team. Do I get discouraged when I don't score as many goals? Do I value some members of the team more than others because they DO seem to be the ones to score all the goals? Do I minimize the contributions of less celebrated team members? Do I play my position, as Clara does, with everything I have even though I might not get noticed when others score. Does the opponent even notice when I'm sitting out? Maybe it's time for a pep talk from the coach...

Romans 12: 4 - 8. "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Ephesians 4: 11 - 12. "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ..."