Play Ball

“I called out to you so often, but you wouldn’t come.  I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.  You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered.” (Proverbs 1:24-25)

 The first few innings of last night’s softball game didn’t start out so great.  This was our first game in two weeks and our third time playing together.  Our team is made up of people who really don’t know each other.  We were grateful the first game because we came together quite nicely, last night we were off.  I really shouldn’t judge.  I play as little as possible (I am subbing and only as I favor, I didn’t want to play this year), so I feel bad when I cringe at the errors made on the field but something had to give.  

During the top of the fifth inning I looked at the other player in the dugout and suggested that we move some people around.  He agreed and we quickly decided who would move where.  Luckily, everyone on our team is pretty easy going and they each are willing to play where ever they are needed.  A couple of swaps of positions and we saw an immediate difference.  Before they were able to get almost ten runs, after the change they only got a couple more.  We did lose the game but we lost pleased with ourselves for knowing when to make changes and listening to the team in an encouraging way to perform as best as we could. 

 There are so many times when it feels like I am doing the same thing over and over again.  Everything becomes routine, regardless if it working or not.  There are other times when new ideas are presented that I just want to shut them down because there is no way that they would ever work.  I cannot count the number of times I should have changed or the limitless number of times an idea I thought was crazy turned out to be extremely successful.  I need to remember that I am not walking alone and I need to listen to God and be more open-minded to the people in my life.  I want to be humble and moldable.  Sometimes I feel hard and flaky.  Listen.  Listen for God and listen to the things going around you.  You may be surprised at what is waiting for you on the other side and you may just experience a better inning in life than you were expecting.

 “You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” (James 1:19a)

Good Old One-Eye

“No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.” (Ecclesiastes 10:14b)

 

When I woke up yesterday morning I would have never imagined that my day would end trying to play softball with only one good eye. Sure, I was advised to be careful or not play at all. My sister told me that I would be just fine since she has played ball before and she has almost no depth perception. So, I did play.  I played with a white bandage over my left eye through two games in a heat index of over 100 degrees. Oh yes, I looked and felt ever so special and my team had a lot of fun at my expense….all in love and fun, of course.

 

Let me back up. I have a scratch on my retina (I think that is what it is). I was in a lower cabinet and a cord was hanging from an upper cabinet and I hit the cord and the plug part hit my eye. I went down hard and then, later, felt like a baby for going to the doctor but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to play our last games of the season. I practiced playing catch to make sure I could see and I felt confident that I was good to go….regardless if no one else did. Truly, everything went fine. It was hard for me to see action on my left side but we worked it through and actually won our first game of the season. The team thinks I should play with one-eye more often.

 

As I was sitting there with my husband debating going to the doctor he made some extremely good points. Because of someone’s carelessness, not putting the toaster away right, our whole team could have been affected. If I couldn’t have played we would have had to take a drop out because we would not have had enough girls. And that sucks but how often in life does that happen? Very rarely do our mistakes, bad judgments, or close calls affect only us. Because we do not live in a world by ourselves even our accidents have consequences that go far beyond the reach of our own arm. Every single step we make is going to affect someone else. We need to be careful of our foot placement and realize that, when making decisions, it’s not all about us.

 

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Quitting

 “But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

 

We are on a co-ed softball team and, honestly, this couldn’t have been a rougher year. Tensions are high and some attitudes, at certain times, are awful, including mine. We do have a talented team we are just having difficulty pulling it all together. Similar to life, it’s the little mistakes that keep us from moving forward. Last night, however, I wanted to quit so badly.

 

I got hit in the throat with the ball. Yeah, it sucked! Now, whether the ball graced my glove before to slow down the impact I don’t know and I don’t care. It still hurt like crazy. Gregory tells me I finished the play before taking a few seconds to recover from the blow and kept on playing. Good thing he and I were quite a distance apart because I am pretty sure there were tears in my eyes for the rest of the inning. I wanted to quit playing last night and go home and baby my neck but I couldn’t. If I left we would be short a girl, which forces a drop out to bat. On top of that I don’t know how to quit. If quitting was an option for either my husband or me we would have been divorced long ago. When you are part of team you just don’t quit.

 

I keep trying to ask God what He is trying to show us during this season, that’s how tough it has been. Have we valued everyone enough? Have we done like the world and awarded favorites instead of the ones who work the hardest? Have we tried hard enough to find everyone a position that suits their abilities? Have we not communicated well when changes needed to be made? These are the questions I ask myself as one of the managers of this team. As simply a player I have ask myself what could I be doing to be pushing my team forward instead of holding them back. Am I so eager to hit the ball that I will swing at anything? Am I listening for my teammate’s instruction during the plays? Am I encouraging enough? And the questions don’t stop. They keep coming and coming. It’s nerve racking.

 

In our family of faith everyone has different gifts and there are lessons we can pull out of everything we do. God wants us to learn from everything. But the two most important things we need to remember are to love God with all of our heart and love our neighbors. Jesus came down from Heaven to show us how to live and then took our sins to the cross with Him and died. Is there really anyone on “our team” that we cannot love? Is there anyone on “our team” that God did not put there for a specific reason and purpose? God had a plan for each of you since the beginning of time. If you are somewhere right now you really need ask God why He put you there and if you haven’t learned all you need to learn can do you think He would want you to quit?

 

“Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: “Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord you God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.’” (Mark 12:29-31)