After playing their hearts out and then going into double overtime, and then going into 2 possession exchanges, each team trying their best to break the tie, they finally lost.
I'm not going to mention how disheartening it was to lose to that other team, with their dirty players and horrible coaches. Ok, yes I am. It was really disheartening to watch them lose to dirty players and unsportsman-like coaches (there was a tiny bit of justice to be found in the head coach of the other team getting ejected from the game before half time for taunting our team and fans.) And in a league known for it's emphasis on learning, fun, and non-competitiveness, you would have thought this dad would have picked a different one. Anyways, the whole game was kind of good vs. evil feeling and unfortunately, evil won. The final touchdown was quite questionable but I think the refs were just so darn tired of the game dragging on that they just called it.
All but three of our boys were in tears by the end (not stone-face Luke, of course.) And the coaches did their best to give a good final pep talk, they handed out the Gatorade, and the medals, and we left.
Luke is a really great kid. He is quiet and smart and a little more sensitive than he lets on. He always wants to do the right thing. He is really, really easy to love.
There is one thing about Luke though. He is super responsible, fairly self sufficient, yet sometimes he can be a little spacey. It's not unusual for him the misplace or forget things (not usually school related, however.)
Dan was out of town and Ava was home with the little boys for this game. So when he and I pulled into the driveway, Luke realized that with his hands full of snacks and the medal, he had left his football and water bottle at the field. Of course when we went back, the water bottle was in the lost and found but the football (already a replacement for one he'd lost previously) was gone.
On the way home for the second time, I kept thinking about this situation. I knew Dan would say, "We'll just buy him another one!" because he's nice like that. I, on the other hand, wanted to get to the root of the problem and find a solution to avoid a pattern of losing, replacing, losing, replacing.
I thought that maybe if we made Luke buy the replacement football himself, he might take better care of it because it would be more valuable, having spent his own money.
Enter in Peter. Yeah, the one from the Bible. After a discussion with my mom earlier in the week about some other things I have been struggling with, she pointed me to Peter. I hadn't read Peter just straight through, for a long time, but she promised there would be some things in there I'd like. And just like they say, "Mother knows best."
In the very first chapter, the seventh verse, I found the first thing I liked:
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"
I had been ruminating on that since I read it, days before. How are our trials more precious than gold? Obviously, he is saying that our trials and struggles have value. And not just any value, more value than any earthly wealth or money, all of which will perish. But when we think about trials or gold, which would we prefer?
So while I'm driving home thinking about how I can make Luke care more about his stuff, I saw this verse in a new, 3rd grade boy type of way, and I liked it even more.
Why did I think Luke would care more about a ball that he paid for himself? Because it involved a sacrifice. Things that come easy are also easy to take for granted.
But things that come through effort, blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice, those things do become more precious to us. We become invested in them because once we've given something of ourselves up for them, it's almost like that piece of us lives on it that.
We got home again and life went on, but I have continued to think on this idea.
I have felt as I've gotten older and older, about my love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and my belief and even knowledge about Him and the reality of His power to heal and bless and save and love us.
And this faith did not come easy. This was not handed to me. Or maybe it was, in the beginning. As a life long Mormon, I was taught this doctrine from childhood. But at some point that faith became my own cross to bear. And I mean that in the way, that my knowledge, acceptance, and belief was a hard fought battle. I came to a solid, irrefutable belief only through great struggle and sacrifice in my life. Trials are turning points. And turning to God in all of my trials was a price I would pay time and time again to know what I know. And if not for those trials, that faith would never have been tested, tried, and solidified.
Peter said that our trails would be more precious than gold, and I believe that is because our trials have the potential to lead us to the source of all life, to Jesus Christ. And I guess I'm not surprised because the knowledge I have about Jesus Christ truly means more to me than any earthly thing, it is even more precious than gold that perisheth. It's not a thing I take for granted or am likely to misplace, because I have given pieces of myself up to have it and those pieces, no, my entire self actually, lives on and lives in Him forever. And I can look back now and see that it was my precious trials that got me here.
It may have been just a football, and I still haven't told Luke he'll be buying the next one, but he will. And I'm also gonna tell him how thankful I am for him being a space cadet and losing his ball so often, because it's been a lesson for us both.
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