7 Lessons I Learned During Baseball Season

            I love spring. In our house, spring was always called baseball season. For 13 years, every spring, actually starting in February, our family began planning for baseball season. There would be a few weeks of nice weather, and lots of sunshine. Then, without fail, on the day of the first game, the weather would turn. The temperature would drop, and the winds would start blowing ninety miles an hour. It was miserable for the fans. I don’t think the players even noticed. They were so excited for the first game of the season.

Seven lessons I learned during that season of life have stayed with me. Lessons like:

1. Keep your eye on the ball. You can’t hit the ball, if you can’t see the ball.

Don’t be consumed with unimportant things and time wasters, that I miss the real life happening around me.

2. Run through first base.
Never stop running. Don’t slow down when you approach your goal. Finish strong. Just because I am approaching a certain age, don’t give up on my goals.  Keep going strong. Stay at it. Do something everyday, even if it is small, toward those things I want to accomplish.

3. Touch every bag as you run around the bases.
Don’t try to take a shortcut and miss something as important as touching a base. 

Don’t be so focused on the end, that I miss the journey. Each step and season in life is important. Enjoy each season.

4. In the outfield, do not wait for the ball to come to you. Run up and get it.                   Anticipate a bad hop.

That job, ministry opportunity, college degree, new skill, hobby or goal is not going to just come to me. I have to be willing to work for it.

5. Don’t try and be the hero and throw the ball all the way from the outfield to home plate.  Throw to your cut off man, who is half way between you and home plate. He is there to help you.

Oh, this is a hard one. Ask for help. Life, like baseball, is not meant to be played alone. We need each other. I can’t be a Lone Ranger Christian.

6. Encourage your teammates when they get up to bat.

Words are free. Whether spoken, emailed or text, we never know how much our words can encourage, lift up and affirm others, and it does not cost us anything. “Great job!”  “You can do it!”  “You are amazing!”

7. When you have two strikes, take a step out of the box, choke up on the bat, and put the ball in play.

Life is hard, and sometimes we get two strikes on us and get discouraged. Take a breath. Pray. Refocus. Know that we do not have to conquer the world today. We just need to look to our Heavenly Coach for encouragement and get back in the box and swing again.

I hope you enjoy whatever season in life you are in. God has an amazing life planned for us. He wants us to live it to the fullest.

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