Are you ready for some football? Can competition be Spiritual?

A season of winning and losing- the connection between the two.

Steeler Nation is happening in our house for the next 17 weeks.  This is a time where screams of heartache and jubilation occur, while my children and I look in bewilderment as this man in our house has been taken over by the terrible towel.  To be clear, this is something I knew prior to marriage.  I fully entered into this relationship knowing that a diehard Steeler fan would be living in my house.  So why Pittsburgh?  As a Native Californian, I remember, as a young child, my family rooting for the Rams.  The Raiders never really stuck with us, and then, since 1994, no team in the Los Angeles area.  Basketball & Baseball was a different story, but Football, no emotional attachment.  The frenzy about the Steelers all has to do with my husband.

The interesting thing about this attachment to the Steelers was that it all happened by a visit to an elementary school.  While a young, impressionable child, my husband's school was visited by a, then current, Steeler player.  After that meeting, the bond was formed.  His life was never the same.  Fast forward to adulthood, the conversations I have with my husband, during the games, are very much one-sided.  I have become his play-by-play recipient, while my interest is usually thinking about the personalities of parties involved.  I would think, "I wonder what the players think when Coach Cowher spits all over their face?" or my mind begins to repeat Black Eyed Peas songs because the current coach, Mike Tomlin, looks so much like Will.I.Am, the lead singer of the band.   I'm there for moral support, to be the neutral, the practitioner of his rollercoaster of emotions during this season of courtship.

So what does this all have to do with Spirituality?  In this current realm of life, we hear about healthy competition.  Telling that to a fan of a professional football league may be a hard sell.  The Truth is, competition is only healthy when the realization comes to be, that each one of us are here in this human realm to be who and what we are meant to Be.  As each one of comes to the realization of who we are individually, the understanding of peaceful coexistence become the reality.  This leads to an understanding that losing and winning are interconnected, just like positive and negative, yin and yang, light and dark.  They are all connected, and success is just as important to understand in a loss, as in a win.

On August 25, 2013, at Agape International Spiritual Center, Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith spoke about competition.
http://agapelive.com/streaming-archives/sunday-08-25-2013/#.UidIEdzn_cd

"We're all one in the Spirit, but we're all unique. You are significant and important to the overall scheme of things, because only you can be you. You can't be anyone else, because that spot is already taken. You are absolutely assigned to be you. You have an assignment to let your life so shine as you.  As you progress, you uplift the world. Every time you have an insight or a revelation. Every time that revelation becomes in souled and embodied, every time that revelation or insight becomes action, you uplift all of humanity, because you are inseparably connected to all of humanity on subjective invisible side of life, as a living hologram of the all that Is. Your success, your progress, does not hinder in anyone. This allows you to revel in the glorious nature of the Spirit, and the glorious nature of your progress, and not buy into the turbulent thought forms that: As you succeed, as you become more healthy, as you become brilliant, as you become more loving, and sharing, and kind, and those qualities begin to move through you in ways beyond your wildest imaginings, that you are not robbing anyone of their good as you shine more and more"...."You do not rob anyone of the God's presence, of the Love Presence, the prosperity presence. As you glow, as you shine as you become more yourself, as you progress, as you become more available to the Yes that is within you, you uplift humanity."

If you are a football fan, use these 17 weeks to solidify your understanding of coexistence. Give these players room to shine their own Light, including any "botched" plays. Lend your energetic to uplift all involved in this sport. Know this too is Spirit moving through.