Getting on with the game

My first grade grandson, Connor, plays basketball this year.
Basketball with 5 and 6 year olds is technically the same sport as ACC basketball. But the realities of the game are very different. Basketball for the starters goes pretty much like this: Get the ball. Dribble it across the line. Lose the ball to the other team and repeat going in the opposite direction. Occasionally there is a pass which is caught by a player on the same team. Less often -- but sometimes--there is an attempt at the basket. But mostly, it is dribble and lose the ball. My son-in-law is coaching Connor's team and Mark is just the right temperment -- patient, good-natured as well as having ideas that (when implemented) bring some success. Going to the game is a matter of support for the children--which is easy and fun to do.
At the last game, I saw an unusually interesting sight.
A girl who played on the other team got mad when her teammate didn't throw her the ball. So, when their team lost possession and ran back to the other end of the court, she stayed right under her basket--head down, arms crossed across her chest, scowl on her face, lip stuck out. What a sight she was! I would have taken a picture but didn't think that was appropriate...
I wanted to laugh -- but didn't know who her parents were and I was certain they were not laughing. There she was, planted under her basket while her team and her opposing team were playing at the other end.
Such a sight! Such a parable! I wanted to shout out to her, "Honey, you have to keep going. The game is going on without you! Get over it!"
So many times I have felt like that young girl! Mad about the way things happened and wanted everyone to know it. So many times I deal with church members like that young girl. They are mad about the way things happened, they want everyone to know it and they are not going to play--even if it puts their team at a disadvantage to pout.
How I wish we could learn to get over things and keep the mission of Christ moving! Doesn't it seem that the teaching and example of Jesus is more than enough motivation to keep us playing even when we are disappointed?
I'm sure this young player will learn better. Hope we all can.