monopoly and an environment for unity

last night we talked about unity; what it means within Christianity and the things we need to pursue in order to create it.  the verses we looked at were ephesians 4:1-6 and we read the “prayer for the Unity of the Church” from the book of common prayer:

“God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: give us the eyes to see the dangers caused by our unhappy divisions; help us rid ourselves of all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may we with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

after we left youth last night, kt and i went home to play monopoly.  we played the night before and i totally won.  it was brutal.  but last night was a different story.  from the very first roll of the dice, kt was up and buying properties left and right.  at first, i was hopeful.  i thought there has to be a chance to at least catch up with her, but i was so wrong.  pretty quickly into the game i started to loose my patience.  when i became impatient, everything else slowly started to crumble and when kt destroyed me, it hurt deep down inside.  i’m not always a sore loser, but i was so confident from the night before that i definitely was bitter about losing so badly.

this morning i realized that my slide into “jacob the sore loser” all started when i began to loose my patience in the game.  i started to be impatient with everything.   i wanted the money to be counted faster, the pieces to be moved around the board quicker, and i wanted the dice to roll faster all so that i could get to my next chance at a comeback.

one of the verses we read last night said :

“be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

as dumb as it is for me to become a sore loser at monopoly (especially when there’s only 2 people playing), i realized that “being patient” is where it all starts for me.  when i’m patient with people, and i guess myself, i can create an environment where i can “bear with another in love”.  as soon as i become impatient with others, and myself, that environment is out the window and there’s no hope for being “humble” or even “gentle”.

but being humble, gentle, patient, and willing to bear with one another comes out of an environment of unity.  and it has made me wonder what i’m doing to create that environment of unity with the people around me.  i know now that i have to be patient.  once i’m patient, i can then begin to “make every effort to keep the Unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (eph 4:3).  but how am i pursuing patience?  how am i working to create that environment of unity?  am i pursuing it at all?

in the prayer for unity that we read, there’s a line that says :

“help us rid ourselves of all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union…”

i know that G-d is not going to just take my impatience away.  it has to start with me.  i have to make an effort to be patient before G-d can help me with it.