For a while, my favorite board game was The Ungame. The Ungame has no beginning and no end. There are no winners or losers, but instead sometimes you find yourself happy in the Cheerful Chalet or scared in Fearful Forest. Nobody wanted to play with me and for good reason-my friends were sporty and competitive and they found no point in playing this game if nothing was at stake. While The Ungame has its rightful place, with my friends was not one of them. They were wired for challenges, wired to strategically figure out how to succeed and there was none of that in The Ungame.
As Christians, I think we can sometimes find ourselves in a living “ungame” where we start and finish where and when we want with no end goal in mind. But winning-success-is ingrained in who God has originally created us to be. Sin gets in the way of our “original us” but Jesus clears the path and bridges the gap between what’s easy to be and who we’re meant to be. It’s easy to do nothing; success takes work and starts in our minds. We have to decide to succeed, and learn the art of fixing our minds. Paul was locked in a jail when he advised us to fix our minds on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. While locked behind bars. He decided in that time to choose joy; through his joy, through fixing his mind, he was able to have a winning mentality despite the bars that were holding him back. He had his plan for a strong mental game, and we have ours too.
- Renew your mind daily: Our minds will be what we condition them to be. So, there’s no time to fill our minds with negativity and drama through what we listen to, what we watch, or what we read. Some of the best athletes condition their bodies through multiple avenues. Football players practicing yoga and ballet push their bodies to strengthen what ordinarily wouldn’t become strong through their same regiment. We too can renew and condition our own minds through multiple resources like solid music, podcasts, and books.
- Speak success: The Bible tells us that life and death is in the power of the tongue, or in other words, words shape worlds so what you speak out matters!
- Learn to visualize winning: Fill your imagination with possibilities. We have hitched ourselves to the God of the entire universe so possibilities are literally limitless. Picture every step you’ll need to take in order to succeed.
- Inspire others: Don’t be a hoarder! If something has inspired you then it’s now your turn to pass it along and help inspire another. We are all walking each other home.
- Learn to celebrate success: It’s not too early to celebrate your success even if you cannot see it yet! Celebrate where you are now out of a grateful heart and celebrate where you’re headed too.
Friends, we are created to win; we are destined for it. Winning is already inside of us waiting to break open, waiting for us to tap into it. Let’s go!