Competition

Competition can be a double-edged sword. On one side, you have healthy, good-natured competition. Then there is the other side that can be divisive and used for evil.

In our family - my husband and me, our grown kids, and now older grandchildren - we have a friendly baking competition each Christmas. This year, the category is homemade bread. Everyone is encouraged to enter. There is the usual smack-talk full of reminders of victories past, bragging rights, pumped up claims of expertise, and down right chest thumping (this from our men folk). It's good-natured and fun. Do not be deceived; this is full out competition! We take our bake-offs seriously! 

The first year we enlisted a neighboring couple as judges. That year, coconut crème pie was up. We do it right, the judges ate a piece of saltine cracker and drank water between each entry. While they took their responsibility seriously, we have not asked them back as judges. Seems the man did not know the difference between fresh whipped cream and deflated meringue. As the entry with the fresh whipped cream, I was a bit put off when he thought my meringue fell!! Taste buds of a cave man! To this day, I harangue him about that!

Last year, Haylie, our oldest granddaughter won with her brownies. This year, we have a new first-time contestant, son Kristopher. I think he picked an ambitious year to enter; baking bread is not for the faint of heart. He was seriously shopping for the perfect bread-baking pan a couple of days after Thanksgiving where we made the announcement we would compete with bread. I did not tell him my first several attempts at making bread and/or rolls ended with lumps of a clay-like substance suitable for building patios. They were inedible, unattractive and tossed out – one tearful batch after another. Thankfully, those years are behind me.

That is a good example of healthy competition. There are plenty of the unhealthy types floating around out to snare you, too.

Believe it or not, there are some seemingly benign factors competing to steal your time and attention away from your faith walk. It may not seem such a bad way to pass a Sunday morning by sleeping-in and snuggling under the covers but if it becomes a powerful habit, it can keep you from fellowship with the brethren. Who among hasn't been tempted to take the family to the lake or beach instead of church? Catching 15 minutes of extra sleep might not seem evil, but if that same 15 minutes used to be spent reading scripture before work, it elevates it's power from simple extra sleep to roadblocks in your daily diet of God's Word. Fear, depression, anxiety compete with peace, joy and contentment. Flesh-natured thoughts compete with spiritual mindsets. Unhealthy competition opportunities are all around us.  

So, Friends, let's continue to encourage one another to fight the good fight against those dastardly elements competing with all that godly in our lives. Let us endeavor to make all our competitions good, pure, clean, and holy.

I'll let you know who wins the bread competition this year.