Patio War

My youngest daughter is a senior in college.
That does not seem possible.
She is living in an apartment on campus this year.
She is living with four other girls.

When she came home for an overnight visit, she had so much to talk about.
She likes her apartment.
She likes its location on campus.
There is one thing that is her favorite thing about the apartment.

Her favorite thing is the patio.
There was one lone chair on the patio the day we helped her move in.
I really did not think much about it.
Until she came home and told me about the patio war.

The term sounds more vicious than it really is.
It is simply a friendly competition.
An apartment of five guys is competing with an apartment of five girls.
In one week’s time, the challenge was on.

I heard about their palm tree in the guys’ apartment.
I heard about their picnic table and benches.
I heard about the little garden gnomes they have scattered about.
I listened attentively since I knew what was coming next.

Mom, do we have any tables we are not using?
We proceeded to brainstorm about things that she could bring back with her for the patio.
There were no extra tables that could be used outdoors.
However, there were chairs.

We still had vintage, webbed lawn chairs.
We had three of them down the basement.
The chairs were a lime green color.
They have not been used in years but I knew that they would be perfect for the patio.

One chair was a chaise lounge.
It reclines and flattens perfectly straight.
The other chair was just a regular chair on which to sit.
The third chair, when opened, had seen better days and will go out in the trash.

She was excited to bring back the vintage lawn chairs.
I know that she and her roommates will come up with other ideas for the patio.
It is a patio war between the guys and the girls.
The challenge is on.

A little healthy competition is a good thing.
Competition should never be nasty or mean.
Competition should always be done in good fun.
It sounds absurd to think that two apartments are having a patio war but it is all in fun.

We used to have field day in the elementary school where my children attended.
Even though it was to be a day of fun, there was some serious competition.
Classrooms competed against each other.
First, second, and third place ribbons were given.

The children loved field day.
It was fun to compete against the other classes.
You would be automatically eliminated if there was any mean spirited behavior.
The class learned to work as a team for a common goal.

By the time my two younger children went to elementary school, field day had changed.
There was no competition.
There were no clear winners.
Everyone got a participation ribbon.

The games meant nothing.
It was simply a day when there was a respite from schoolwork.
There was concern that some children would feel left out if they lost.
There was concern that winning and losing would be too harsh for the children.

No one liked the changes.
The adults wondered what could possibly be learned by this exercise in egalitarianism.
It was surely not preparing the children for life.
Not everyone gets the college acceptance letter, or the job, or the house of their dreams.

What were the children being prepared for with this “everyone wins” mentality?
Instead of learning how to win or lose graciously, the outcome was already determined.
Everyone wins.
Except everyone does not win and we all learn that soon enough.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

God’s Word does not take an egalitarian approach.
Not everyone wins.
Not everyone gets the prize.
Only those who are in Christ will receive a crown that will last.

Our crown is a prize that we, who are in Christ, will receive but then we will give away.
We will lay our crown at the feet of the Lord Jesus.
We will lay down our crown in worship.
We will have won the ultimate prize, which is eternity with our Lord and Savior in heaven.

The patio war is on.
Time will tell which apartment will win the battle.
It will all be done in fun.
It will be a healthy competition between the guys and the girls.

And that is more than OK.