One game at a time

The Canucks' playoff run this year has made a hockey fan of every Vancouverite. With a winning team representing our city, it has become very cool to wear the Canucks jersey. On game days blue tops bearing the team logo dominate the visual landscape everywhere we go. And when night comes we're all fixated on the team's performance, riding the emotional roller coaster of wins and losses.

What seems amazing is that the players themselves don't display the same emotional highs and lows that the fans do. Watch them answer the barrage of questions from reporters after every game--they are always calm and cool. Whether it had been a disastrous loss or a well-fought win, the players neither gloat nor get deflated according to the results. They maintain their poise, focusing on 'one game at a time' to resist the spillover effect of a win or loss onto the next game, working to preserve a fresh start for each game no matter how well or how bad the last game went down. 

There is much wisdom in keeping such short accounts. As in sport, so too in life, neither pride nor dejection from a past victory or failure should affect new opportunities. His mercy is new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)