Last night, on our last night of camping, Alycia and I sat down to play Dominion. Dominion is a deck building game that falls between Catan and Magic: The Gathering on the nerdiness scale. I got the game for Christmas and have been fairly dominant at it since then. However, last night, Alycia beat me four times in a row.
Four. Times. In. A. Row.
I hadn’t lost any consecutive games of Dominion before last night, much less four. I hate losing at nerdy things. Here are some reasons why.
I Don’t Have Anything Else
When it comes to regular forms of competition I really have nothing to be proud of. Volleyball is the sport in which I have invested the most time and, at best, I am an average player. I am below average in all other sports so my only real hope of tasting victory comes from nerdy competitions like video games, board games and Star Trek trivia. When I start losing at those nerdy competitions, though, I have lost all chance of ever entering the winners’ circle. I can handle losing at competitions I’ve no business winning. But if I can’t even win the nerdy ones then I might just stop playing.
It’s Embarrassing
For someone who has claimed the title “The Christian Nerd” it’s a little embarrassing to lose at nerdy things. It’d be like “The Great One” sucking at hockey or Captain Kirk not hooking up with the attractive alien. Granted, I’ll never touch the greatness of Wayne Gretzky or James T. Kirk, but I should still be able to win at least one game of a nerdy card game. Not only did I lose four games but I lost them to my wife. I know she promised to love me as long as we both shall live, but that was before she knew how much of a pathetic loser I am. Not only did she win four straight games, but it also feels like she won the family pants.
Winning is Better
Plainly and simply, winning is better than losing. Given the choice, an overarching majority of people would rather win than lose. Whether it’s at a board game or an argument, most everybody wants to win. It’s important, though, to keep that desire to win from seeping into every area of our lives. Jesus himself said that if we want to be great we must be a servant to all. Sometimes our desire to win and be the best can keep us from humbling ourselves and serving the needs of those around us. Winning at a game means being number one. But truly winning in life means being a slave to all.
I really hate losing. I probably hate it at unhealthy levels. And even though no one likes losing, especially in our areas of expertise, it’s vitally important to remember that winning isn’t everything. According to Jesus serving is everything and tastes even better than victory.
How do you handle losing?
Hopefully with GRACE and I understand at this older age loosing has helped me with humility!
As I have watched my children and grand kids observe how I handle loosing I know God is teaching me to be humble and even broken sometimes and it will be an example for them one day.
There also is different levels of loosing, a game, a job, a friend or relationship. The level of loosing most the time is what dictates to us the reaction. And now sometimes I thing mmm “Jesus left heaven for me” loosing um not so bad!
Nerd or not I think you show grace to all around you Scott!
I have been praying for you and Alycia this week that you would have “time” to talk and reflect and set your goals for this next year. Our church is blessed to have both of you!
Robin