Competition?

I was raised with a tennis racket in my hand.  As far back as I can remember I started on the back boards as my parents played on the courts. As I got better at keeping the ball going on the boards my parents let me play with them. As I grew I became the number one or two on my school tennis team depending on my game records.  Then I played on a citywide tournament.  But I quit playing tennis for a long time.  Why?  Because I didn’t like how I felt and thought.

When I was in competition with another person or team in school I felt tense, angry and slightly vicious. Being brought up in Christian Science I knew that those thoughts against my opponents wasn’t correct.  I also noticed that sports are 90% mental.  When I really disliked a team I didn’t play as well, sometimes even losing.  I found that the win at all cost, putting shots at people’s feet, making them run from side to side wearing them down, and the temptation to subtly trash talk was incongruent to the way I was being raised through my Sunday School Lessons and church work.

When one looks up the word “Competition” it states, “The act of seeking, or endeavoring to gain, what another is endeavoring to gain, at the same time; rivalry; mutual strife for the same object; also, strife for superiority…” It is from a standpoint of only one winner, only one receiving a reward, and the rest being beaten down, rivalry.  It is from the belief that only winners can have Good.  This is actually a fear, a fear that there is only a small part of good and only for those who fight for it and win.

But I was learning in my life that we all live in the Kingdom of Heaven, surrounded by the ultimate Good, God, Love.  There is no true competition for Good in the work place, for persons, purpose, title, or even homes.  Because we are all the ‘Children of God’ everything that is Good is there for all.  Each one receives his/her Good that is purposed for us to do, think, say, be, express.  Each one of us have our own job, reflecting God.  Each one are embraced in Goodness and Love.  So the belief of competition is actually an evil because it denies the Allness of Good.

Mary Baker Eddy stated, “Competition in commerce, deceit in councils, dishonor in nations, dishonesty in trusts, begin with "Who shall be greatest?"²

Christ Jesus was asked by his disciples, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”³

“Beloved children, the world has need of you—and more as children than as men and women: it needs your innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontaminated lives.  You need also to watch, and pray that you preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through contact with the world.  What grander ambition is there than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to know that your example, more than words, makes morals for mankind!”⁴

Our Good is readily seen when we see that Good is for everyone.  As little children that are taught to share and love one another, we too are to see and express Good with each other.  We are never to think there is a lack of Good and then live our lives from that standpoint.  We’re to trust, know, and love the Good that includes each one of us.

Once when I went back to playing tennis, this time for the fun and a happy competition with myself, I played a very good tennis player.  They were beating me 4 sets to 0. I was calm and happy, taking shots and trying to return them well.  It was their serve.  Normally a good player wins their serve.  But I started getting in a good shot here and there and as I was picking up points the other person was getting very upset and unnerved.  They had thought they were going to quickly beat me and celebrate my defeat. But with each point I was winning this person became very angry.  I wasn’t playing against this person. I knew that I was no match.  I was playing for fun and to see how I could do on the court. I won their serve and then almost my next serve.  The game score ended up 1-6.  Of course they won but I felt like that we had both won.  I had enjoyed getting to see how I could defeat my feelings of insecurity, playing each shot to the best of my ability, and seeing how I had been freed from a large sense of competition.

When we see that the feelings of competition are actually temptations that we should deny and correct from our thinking. We will all be able to see more freedom from the belief that Good is lacking and we must battle for it.  We will be lifted above the strife of rivalry and see that each one is completely given all Good that each one of us needs and wants.  Good isn’t an iffy thing it is a promise from Love, God, who is All Good.  We can feel this Good and enjoy it all of the time.  We do not have to ‘win’ it.  Good is what and who we always are.

“Day by day the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs:
Cast foreboding fears away;
Take the manna of today.”⁵

Hug 



1 Webster 1828 Dictionary
2 Message to the Mother Church 1902 by Mary Baker Eddy page 4 beginning on line 1
3 The King James Version of the Holy Bible Matthew 18:1-4
4 Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy page 110 lines 4-12
5 Christian Science Hymnal No. 46 vs. 2