Football season is near! Hip, hip, hooray! It’s a special time for our family… We are taking Griffin for his first college football games to watch our favorites teams play. Yes, I said teams.
We are what most call a “House Divided.” My husband’s family is from Florida and adorns garnet and gold every weekend from now until January. Florida State is near and dear to their hearts!
I, on the other hand, am a Georgia Tech fan! There is nothing like a crisp fall Saturday in Atlanta surrounded by white and gold. “I’m a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer!” I am not an engineer, but my love for the Yellow Jackets sprang from childhood basketball; watching both boys’ and girls’ teams play on television with my grandfather at any given opportunity. It felt like a rite of passage.
When Sam and I started dating, I had a difficult time cheering for Florida State. I spent much of my college years agreeing to cheer for whoever the boyfriend at the moment pulled for. But one team ALWAYS stuck… Georgia Tech! As I came into my own and embraced my individualism as a young professional, I no longer cared about who pulled for other teams… except for myself. So, a Tech fan I’ve been, and a Tech fan I’ll be!
Excitement from the freedom in self-contentment held me back from offering support to my husband and the team he so cherishes. Candace+humility+football didn’t quite equal a supportive relationship from August to January. Well, on game days anyway.
As time has passed, I’ve learned to respectively encourage and show affection for my husband’s diehard love for the Seminoles. I had to package my prideful boasting and learn to harness my love for the navy, gold, and white… Just enough to respect Sam but still bleed Yellow Jacket through and through. Football season does make our home a little more competitive and fun, but certainly a battle for who is the better choice!
I think we, sometimes become an internal “House Divided,” where our faith is concerned. We have plans for our life: career, spouse, children, future children, finances. As much as we strive to hold onto our own love and desires, we still want to follow God’s call. We crave worldly “success” so badly. Yet, we don’t loosen the stronghold of our own plans. Our pride and lack of faith keep us from fully letting go of our own playbook to fall under God’s guidance and leadership.
We often forget He is the coach for the winningest team. He knows we long for and seek victory. But, He can foresee life’s tackles, returns, and a blocked point for those opportunities to get ahead (long before we even know it’s coming.)
As prideful as people can be about our version of what should occur, each new season of life has more opportunity for fun, love, and unity when we drop our guard, throw on God’s team colors, and head onto the field under His vision.
It may be hard to relinquish our own agenda to let God pave the way. But, God’s faithful spirit follows through on His promises to give us a life of hope and love. He doesn’t want to make us suffer or completely neglect the things we care about and feel called to do.
He wants to offer seasons of victory, grace, and joy. He comforts us in moments when we feel we’ve lost, but voluntarily takes the cooler of Gatorade when we’ve won the big game under His coaching!
My prayer is for us all to NOT be that obnoxious fan, with stubborn boastfulness about who is the best. But that we may be coachable, respectful players and fans in our own game… Who walk the field side by side with the greatest coach of all time.
house of stain 