You are currently browsing the Bruce Smith weblog archives for the day 27. August 2010.
27. August 2010 by BruceSmith.
In The Grip of the Game
The grip. I just like the way that sounds, don’t you? Grip. Say that out loud. Say it again! Not all words feel like they sound. This one does. When you say, “Grip”, you just understand the word. The grip is about having a handle on things, getting things set in order for what is to come. Whether its a carpenter’s tool, a pickle jar, a tennis racquet or life, the grip is of utmost importance.
Bigger than our grip on the racquet handle, the grip of the game upon us, is most central to our success. What any lifelong tennis enthusiast will tell you is that, at some point, the game “hooked” them. At that moment, when the game really runs through your heart, lungs, veins, and soul, its then that the game is really on. We cannot expect to get our grip on the game set properly until and unless the game has its grip firmly locked onto us.
I’m sure you are already ahead of me and have found the connection of the metaphor to life itself. Life, the game of life, like tennis, is an enthralling proposition. So many people spend their lives trying to master this game, getting an upper hand, locking onto things, protecting reputation, winning at all costs, and fail, somehow, to recognize that the secret to life, winning at life, is loosening the grip and allowing the Giver of Life to grip onto us.
One thing that those who truly appreciate the game understand is that the game is bigger than the player. Those who grip onto life and to self too tightly wind up squeezing the life out of themselves and all those around them. Troubled people everywhere, on the court of life, place a vice grip on everything within reach, trying desperately to avoid loss of any kind, and in the process they bring the very loss they fear. As any accomplished tennis player knows, you have to play to win, you cannot play not to lose. Play loose or play to lose. There is a big difference.
In life, those playing not to lose are easy to spot, just as they are on the court. These players are tight, angry, distressed, locked down, and wound up to the hilt. Psychologically, perhaps because they have experienced the pain of loss in the past, they cannot handle the idea of losing again, and so, they fall into the deceptive but alluring pattern of protective play. Its a trap. This kind of grip placement can only lead to a game of errors, bad decisions, and utter defeat. Once the joy of the game is gone a person cannot play free. The really sad part is that once locked into that cycle its very hard to get out. Once a tennis player tightens up and begins to protect, they are done. It becomes a downward spiral that is really hard to watch. Whether it stems from bad coaching, no coaching, a refusal to embrace coaching or anything else, the result is the same–loss.
If you have ever seen a player in the grip of the game, regardless of the score, you have a sense of what I am talking about. Its not that the competitor does not realize challenges are there, rather, he is so in love with the game and its process that he will find a way to enjoy the ride, and play to the full, without regard of the outcome. To give one’s best, to play the game as it ought to be played is enough.
To play free is to understand what Eric Liddell, the Scottish Olympic runner and missionary understood and expressed when he spoke of his calling to be both a minister and an athlete, “…when I run, I feel His pleasure”. Those in the grip of the game, in the grip of the Game Giver, know what it is like to swing out, to play for the win, and to enjoy every stroke. Similar words were spoken by Saint Augustine who wrote that we were made for relationship with God (the Game Maker), and that we cannot hope to find any rest or lasting joy in the game of life until we find our rest in Him. If we separate our outcome form the ultimate reality of the game or if we elevate ourselves and our security above the game and its Creator, we lose by default. No win-loss record can compensate for such a life.
If we are to have the desire and power to fully pursue this game, tennis or life, we must first have this restful hunger, love, and desire to play the game as it ought to be played. Its not enough to do it our way. We must feel His pleasure over us, and rest in His care for us, if we hope to get the most out of our game. The opinion of those watching in the stands does not ultimately matter if we are pursuing the game as its intended. Despite all the opinions and schools of thought that exist about the game, the true game, the way it was meant to be played, is absolute and knowable. Its a beautiful game, and when one sees it played like it was intended, its easy to recognize and say, “That’s how the game should be played! That’s how I want to play!” A knowledge of His grip on us is the only thing that can provide this. The game, His game, is bigger than us and bigger than our results, and that’s just fine. The game He desires to open up to us is beyond anything we could imagine. The joy that comes from playing for an audience of One is thrilling. We were all intended to play free, to swing out, to know the bliss of the beautiful game. Living in the grip of the game is an undeniable pleasure. Enjoy living in that reality.
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
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