Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Recently, we held honor assemblies for all the grade levels. This consisted of recognizing honor roll, attendance, independent reading, etc., etc. Each ceremony went very well, and the students were pretty well-behaved. It was great to have a moment where positive things were being discussed about our children. Too often we spend time disciplining and complaining about the things our children do not do. If I could show you all of the certificates we signed, you'd be amazed. I had hand cramps to prove how big that number was--pain worth enduring!

On one of the days, I took a moment to share a brief story with our students about Lou Gehrig. The story was about when he went to visit a little boy in the hospital who was sick with polio and had pretty much given up on life. When the little guy saw his hero come in his room for a visit, he promised Mr. Gehrig he'd try to walk again if he'd make a homerun in the game he'd be playing later that day. The deal was made. Of course, Gehrig was a bit of a mess and worried for the promise he had made. What if he could not meet his end of this bargain??? Fortunately, Gehrig knocked two homeruns that day! Years later when Gehrig was honored for his career and was in the final stages of his horrible muscular disease, the little boy he'd visited dropped his crutches, walked to him and hugged him. It was a powerful moment for Gehrig, and continues to be an inspirational story for those who come across it.

The questions posed to the audience at the ceremony were: Who's hit a homerun (at some time in your life) for you? And, are you striving for homeruns in your life daily? I reminded them that each day someone's hitting us a homerun (e.g., parents, spouses, friends, teachers, etc.). We often take these sacrifices for granted. At times, the homeruns do not directly impact us, but are still done to show us encouragement and to model proper behavior.

To transition a bit, I had to smile recently about a status post by one of my friends on a popular social site, which read: "When life throws you a curve ball, duck..." Having had some moments with this whole baseball theme for a few days now, I asked myself, "Lord, where's this theme taking me???" I think it was the comment one of my friend's friends later posted, which made me laugh hard, but put it all into perspective: "Don't 'duck.' Step back, swing and hit a f@ing homerun!!!"

It's baseball season, and I am in the game in so many ways personally, professionally and socially. Some curve balls have come my way more recently, and I was at a point of just wanting to duck. However, the adversary would want me to do just that: duck, give up, show out, protest...Hurt people hurt people.

I'm directly feeling the blows by an individual right now. While I could go the level of entertaining the slander, I will take the higher road, praying for the pain to cease and the healing process to begin. I must face up to the consequences that came through the (bad) choices I made from that season.

Call it a trade in teams, a time for reconditioning & training, or more listening to the coach and studying the plays...Whatever the case, I am working to hit homeruns with every ball thrown. As a result, God is blessing me and allowing the doors of opportunity to open wider and wider. It is a sweet season, and I hum the familiar tune, "Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd..."

God's provision continues to manifest itself and console me in several ways. I stop and remind myself of these deep words: "I have to change my definition of success to match what I know to be true about God...I am parking my mind on the truth." My bases are loaded; there is no time for ducking or drawing conclusions that would shut down my abilities or others. The goal's to be better for God, to be better for me, to be better for those I come in contact with--And, yes, I just ended that last statement with a preposition.