The sporting and adventurous spirit

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

IN life, this is the spirit and attitude we should have. Otherwise, we would easily be overcome by the twists and turns, the drama of life that can come from light to heavy and can be entirely confusing, sweeping us to situations we would not know how to handle.

 

We have to be sport and adventurous in facing the different conditions of our life. And it would greatly help if we too can have an abiding sense of humor. Otherwise, we would just fall into states of sadness, pessimism and despair which actually are unnecessary and are avoidable.

 

This we can do if first of all we have a strong and deep faith in God, our Creator and Father. If we have that faith, we know that God holds everything in order through his providence. He takes care of everything, irrespective of how things go. Ours is simply to relate everything to him and to go back to him everytime we get astray and especially at the end of the day.

 

When we have this sporting and adventurous spirit, we, of course, would like to play to win and to get as much enjoyment as possible. We would give our best shot. But we also know that this is not going to happen all the time. There will be times when we lose in a game or when we get lost in our adventure. But regardless of how things go, we can always go back to God as we should, and everything would just be all right.

 

Thus, whether we win or lose in a game, succeed or fail in our adventures and projects, we can still manage to have fun and, more importantly, to learn precious lessons, as in, we get to know more about ourselves and others, about our strengths and weaknesses, about the virtues we need to develop and grow, etc.

 

Obviously, to be able to do this, we need to have a certain sense of detachment from things in general even as we try to immerse ourselves in them. We have to learn the appropriate art and skill for this. We have to learn to flow with the times and to roll with the punches.

 

May the good times not spoil us but only make us most thankful for the blessing, and eager to serve God and others some more. And may the bad times not lead us to depression and despair, but rather to strengthen our trust and hope in God’s providence.

 

While we cannot avoid being affected in some way by the ups and downs of life, we should see to it that at the end of the day, we are at peace with God and with everyone else, asking for forgiveness from God for whatever mistakes we commit, as well as asking and giving it to others as the case may be.

 

We should be reconciled with God and with everybody else, since after all is said and done, we cannot deny that we are all children of God, brothers and sisters among ourselves, meant to love everyone irrespective of how the others are.

 

We need to be strong in this sporting and adventurous spirit, and teach everyone to be the same. Our unavoidable differences and conflicts, our wins and losses, successes and failures, should not undermine this spirit. If at all, they should strengthen it all the more!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com