Timeless (and hopeful) thoughts of “can’t wait ’til spring” while clearing the driveway from yesterday’s heavy snow…
…On our street in Pineridge in the ‘60s, we couldn’t wait for the last of the snow to melt and the field to dry out. Riding bikes with the neighborhood gang was fun, and after-supper games of “capture the flag” once Daylight Savings Time kicked in were always a memorable rite of spring, too. But there was nothing like playing baseball after school in our neighbor’s uphill field of dreams.
Video games? What were those? TV? Never crossed your mind. It only had about four channels from which to choose anyway, and most of them seemed to be playing game shows or soap operas until the evening news. Besides, we had all been stuck inside all day at school, and it was time for a jail break.
No two days were the same. Some were make-believe games filled with “ghost runners” to fill out your team’s roster. Others were spent taking turns to see who could be the first to smack a fly ball into the pine trees at the edge of the outfield. A mild breeze. The aroma of the moist earth of spring. And then the distant aroma of somebody’s dinner cooking, which was our cue to call it a day. And while on the outside all had been sweat and adrenaline and motion, on the inside all was peaceful. Life was good. It all felt…right.
A fast-forward thought…
I think Jesus would have loved baseball as a kid in Nazareth.
….And a recent playing-a-game episode from season three of The Chosen seems to imagine the same thing. Maybe because baseball has a lot of Kingdom parallels…
It takes its time and is never in a hurry.
It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
It’s a battle of will and of mind more than anything else.
It’s where you always need to be alert to an "enemy" who is always trying to steal something.
It speaks patience and the importance of discipline and practice.
It has many moments of joy and laughter mixed with lots and lots and LOTS of routine that requires perseverance and attentiveness.
It is also filled with occasional misfires and disappointments from which you dust yourself off and keep going.
It is often accompanied by the cheers of encouragement from friends…even thousands upon ten thousands.
But maybe the best Kingdom parallel to baseball is the peace and serenity within that comes from simply playing catch. Because as a kid, even though you were doing nothing more than winging the ball to someone else and feeling the smacking sound as it came back into your glove, everything on the inside mysteriously went limp and quiet. It all felt…right.
I wonder why that is? Just maybe, playing catch is another practical way God knocks on our door during times of stress or anxiety, or just a hard day, reminding us for the gazillionth time that whenever we let "stuff" go, and then fill that void by receiving high-fly ball Words of truth and encouragement that hit hard in a good sort of way, peace within always wins the day...
“Peace doesn't mean that you will not have problems. Peace means that your problems will not have you.”—Tony Evans
The thing is, you’ve got to remember to do both…let it go, then catch the Truth. Repeat as necessary. And then one more thing: never hog the ball—always be on the lookout to toss what you have received to someone else who walks onto your neighborhood field. Because in the Kingdom of God, it’s always spring training…
“He encourages us every time we have troubles, so when others have troubles, we can encourage them with the same encouragement God gives us.”
—2 Corinthians 1:4, Expanded
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