Keeping Score

Dear Reader:

Today has had an interesting start.  As I drove into work this morning, my interest piqued when I listed to MLB Radio.  The hosts were talking about the decline of baseball.  They talked about how younger kids aren't playing any more.  One of the big reasons they gave was that kids like to keep score, and these early times kids play don't keep score.  I can remember one of my cousins, who is younger, asking what the score in his baseball game was.

It seems like we don't want to keep score in ballgames because we want to protect the children.  Yet, sometimes, keeping score is what we need to do.  Why?  So we can learn from the experiences.  There are times when the score says you lost.  Yet, even in losing, one can learn.

However, what about not keeping score in other things in life?  Like when your spouse does something that offends you. Do you keep score?  Is there a mental tally?  When do you discuss this ledger of wrongs? Why keep one at all?

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of wrongs." (1 Corinthians 13: 4, 5).  So, if I'm to love someone and do what's best, then why do keep score?  Selfishly, I like to insure my status in life moves upward.  To do this, I obsess over flaws in words or dress or actions from someone else.  All of this is done in violation of this chapter.  And the funny thing is that I know this, and I keep doing it.  I end up demanding my own way, and I keep tallying the score in my favor.  How presumptuous is that?

So, what's a guy to do?  First things first--remember that I need to stop being so childish (1 Corinthians 13:11).  Second I need to remember this:  LOVE FORGIVES!  LOVE FORGIVES!  LOVE FORGIVES!