Competition and contentment

This weekend we had some friends over for the Super Bowl and at the end of the night, I was in helping Maxwell and the other kids clean-up his room and I heard one of the other kids say to Maxwell, "your room is really little" to which Maxwell replied, "no it isn't!" I quickly diffused the competition by reminding the other child that his room used to be small before his family moved into their current home. While going to bed last night, I told Maria this story and said that I didn't think there was anything to it, but that I was surprised by the conversation. Since she spends all day with the boys and other kids she pointed out that at this age, this form of competition is their way to one-up each other. As you might imagine, she also said that it is hard to stay on top of this with kids, but that she and our other friends do try to watch for that.

This afternoon, Maria and the boys went over to our friends, the Coles, house to play. Maria said that she heard Maxwell and Paxson talking to each other throughout the day along the lines of "my toy/item/project is better than yours". At one point she jumped into the conversation and told them that she didn't want to hear them trying to one-up each other, but rather wanted them to encourage each other. Fast forward to them while they were building houses with legos. Maxwell looked over at Paxson and said, "Paxson, your house is awesome" to which Paxson said "thank you". Maria then asked Paxson what he should say to Maxwell. Paxson replied with, "Maxwell, your house is super great!" I can just hear the two of them trying to encourage each other and I had to chuckle.

All of this made me think though. What makes us want to one-up each other? Why does it matter if my house/car/toy is bigger or better? In what ways do I try to one-up my friends and in what ways do I lack contentment because I think someone else has something better than me? We tell our boys, and especially Maxwell since he is older, that people are more important than things, but does my life demonstrate that to our kids and those around me? The truth of God's Word really hits home at a time like this (on top of the conversations replayed above, we are trying to sell our current home to buy something bigger and with a room we can dedicate to homeschooling) - Matthew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" I pray our lives show contentment more than competition, but sometimes I'm just not sure.