Winner or Loser?

If the saying "It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round" has any truth to it, it is in the car business. Each person that comes through the door looking for a vehicle is as unique and different from every other one as is possible.

Recently we had a customer who was shopping (for several months actually) for a car for his wife. He had found one that she liked here at our dealership. Now it was just a matter of negotiating an acceptable price.

During the process of negotiation and subsequent sale, one thing became very clear. This fellow had framed his world in a win-lose mold. Every situation, every encounter was defined in such a way that someone would be dominant and the other would be subservient. He was bound and determined to be the one who exerted the power and others were required to cowtow to him. It was not enough that he got most of what he wanted in the process, he had to have all of what he wanted or he was unhappy because he had not really won. For him, the only important thing was winning, dominating, getting his way.

I have thought of him often since that encounter. What an unhappy way to structure reality. What a miserable way to live. To set up life in such a way that there is always a winner and a loser guarantees that in every situation half the people are going to be dissatisfied, half the people are left unhappy.

Fortunately, God does not operate in that framework with us. When we set things up in a win-lose scenario, God draws a bigger circle and makes it possible for everyone to win. In St Paul's letter to the Romans, we are told: "God makes all things work together for good for those who love God, those who are called according to his purposes" (8:28). So even when we may feel like we are on the losing end of the stick, we simply need to re-focus our eyes to see with the vision of faith that God is at work to bring about something even better.

What is your framework for viewing the reality of your life? Are you a winner? Is everyone around you?