While I recognize that writing a sports piece for the Behind the Scene has the potential to alienate any of our non-sporty readers, I am going to throw caution to the wind and continue with this article. However, I promise to limit myself to using only two overdone sports analogies, like “When you find yourself fourth and long, the best thing to do is punt.” (Yes, that will count as one of the two). Also, in the spirit of full discloser I warn everyone right now that I’m not writing just about sports… and I’m not going to talk about Tim Tebow (there is a perfectly good Facebook post for that discussion). I am going to talk about my beloved team, the Silver and Black (that is the Oakland Raiders for the non-sporty readers who made it past the first sentence). Now that we have put everything on the table, this article is poised to be a good one for the six people still reading it.
After another heartbreaking year of following the Oakland Raiders, I began to think about why this year seemed more disappointing than usual. Of course there is the obvious: they were one game away from going to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years and they failed to get that last win … so close, yet so far, again. But beyond the obvious is something that nags much more. When it comes down to it, I think the thing that makes this year’s epic fail so hard is that there was so much expectation. Expectations unfulfilled compounded the pain of the loss because the fans didn’t just have to deal with another “almost” season; they had to deal with the death of postseason hopes and dreams created by those expectations. Granted this is only football, and there is “always next year” (that does not count as one of my two because it is a saying, not an analogy!). So a good dose of perspective soothes the pain of any heartbroken sports fan… even those in the Raider Nation.
The trouble is that problems with expectations have a way of creeping into our everyday lives and into places that bear much more significance than how our team is doing. We expect things from our marriages, our children, our careers, our friends, our church, ourselves (hello, New Year’s resolutions), and at some point those expectations can become ultimate in our lives. When this happens we begin living for a future that may or may not ever be, and we set ourselves up for heartbreak and frustration. Furthermore, we miss the joy to be found in our present reality. What if God, in His infinite wisdom, doesn’t shape our lives exactly as we planned… is he still good? Of course he is! This means that there is good to be found in every one of life’s unexpected twists and turns. But we have to let go of our expectations to receive the good that exists in each and every moment.
As I conclude, I want to clarify that I am not suggesting we should not have a vision for our lives or that we shouldn’t make and strive for healthy goals. The difference between a having a vision and goals and counting on concrete expectations is that we do not hold our dreams with a clenched fist but an open hand. When we hold our hopes and dreams in an open hand there is room for God to change our course and give us something entirely different… something possibly better… something that is, at the very least, exactly what we need.
So the next time you find yourself throwing an interception, remember that there are four quarters in every game (I don’t have any idea how that relates, I just had one more sports analogy left, so I had to use it!).
Jason
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