He was looking forward to winning a medal in sports carnival. Unfortunately, he was placed in a team where his team members were all weak in the sports. He tried his best, with full determination and effort. He also prayed that his team would win at least an award. But it didn't come to pass.
The whole encounter was made worse when he saw that his friend who was extremely weak in that sports received the gold award because she was placed in a team full of strong members.
This is a teachable moment that life is never fair but God is still good. Hard work does not always get rewarded because we live in a fallen world.
We acknowledged his disappointment. We allowed him to cry. And we had to process with him --- both disappointment with God and disappointment with the result.
I personally think that it is a good experience for him to realise that your prayer does not always get answered the way you want it to, and how people are involved in effecting the outcome apart from prayer.
I would rather that he experiences disappointment with God right early in his life (and have us processed with him), than for him to experience it late in life and turn away from God.
There are many learning points for him today, for which we are grateful.
Before he slept, I said to him, "I am so proud of you J, for who you are. And also you have tried your best today. That's more important than any award."
The reality of life is this... Those with awards are not necessary the good ones with diligence and hard work. To look at pure awards will be superficial in this world. But we have a God who looks at the heart and who will eventually bring every work into judgment and light.
