Dealing with loss

When you are playing a game, how do you handle the sting of losing?

I know people who refuse to admit that they lost. They have lots of excuses. ‘It’s not my fault, you distracted me, someone must have been cheating, you only won because I was sick.’

There are those you can’t play games with because their reaction to losing is almost life threatening. They are sore losers and the pain of their loss may even cost them some good friendships.

The trouble is we are all in the game of life and if you live long enough, the pain of losing will visit your house. There are certain things that are just bigger than us and things that are just beyond our ability to reach.

The question is not will you ever suffer loss but will you ever learn how to gracefully and lovingly handle loss and go on to enjoy life?

It’s said that there are four stages in life; spills, when you are a baby and you spill things. Thrills, when you are youthful and do things for the thrill. Ills when you start to get older and the brain is willing but the body is weak. Lastly pills, where we take pills for all our ills.

In every stage of life we suffer loss but that’s not a problem unless you get stuck in yesterday’s losses. We all know people who are still complaining about something that happened many years ago. Whatever it was that hurt them has also stolen their ability to move forward into having a happier future.

If you meet someone who’s enjoying today, it’s not because they haven’t had any losses but they have learned to grow beyond the loss. Losses come in all sizes. If you have had a size five loss and you are only a size two person then your loss will always be greater than who you are.

The good news is the size of our loss is fixed, a size five loss will always be a size five and it can’t grow any bigger. On the other hand we were created with the ability to grow up, mature, and gain Godly wisdom. We may have once been a size two but over time we can grow and become a size three, four, five, six, seven, or eight.

Now that you are an eight, the size five loss that was once overwhelming and too big for you to handle is no longer a problem. What happened? Did the size five problem become only a one? No my friend it didn’t change, you grew up.

Ephesians 4:15 “speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the headChrist.”

We all need some divine help to grow bigger than our problems and larger than our losses. I encourage people to go to church because in the right church people will speak the truth to you in love. In a good church people will work to build you up rather than tear you down. In a great church people will encourage you to grow bigger and move forward into greater success.

I have discovered that the key to living the blessed life is not to shrink my losses but it’s for me to grow larger. I have great confidence in you that in the right place you will grow larger than your greatest loss and you will speak to your mountain to be removed and it shall be cast into the sea. God bless you all.

For comment or prayer email: pastor.kevin@cbfellowship.ca