Baseball Family #1
Baseball & Family Basics
One my favorite things to talk about is baseball. I love the sport; have since I was a kid. Afternoons and mornings going and playing catch or hitting for hours. I love watching it now and recently went to all of the MLB stadiums for a game. Several things about baseball just draw me in. Then I began to realize that when we look at our families through a baseball lens there is a bleed over effect. I would like to have a conversation about them over the next several posts.
The first thing we need to understand is that the basics of family and baseball are the same. The first is that we only have so many outs. A baseball game has 3 outs an inning and eventually a team runs out of outs and the game is over. It is same in our families. Each day, week, month and year have an end. If you only get so many outs you better make them count. In Psalm 90:12 the Living Bible says, “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.” How will you make those days count with your family? We cannot assume that time will count; we have to make sure it will.
In baseball it is all about moving around the bases. When a runner is on first the next guy up needs to move him to second and so on until he reaches home and a run is tallied. In baseball an out is not held against you as long as you advance the runner. In baseball it is called a sacrifice. It can be a two foot bunt or a 300 foot fly out. If you sacrifice the crowd cheers and your teammates high five you and you are the momentary hero. In our families we need to learn to sacrifice for each other. Romans 12:10 (HCSB) says “Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.” We should always look to go first in our families when it comes to sacrificing for each other. In a family that is more concerned for each other than my own thing you will find a family that is honestly just happy for each other. What are you willing to sacrifice to make your family stronger?
When I was a kid I had to pay for all my baseball equipment. I would save birthday and work money to buy gloves and baseballs even bats. To play baseball you need to have some equipment. If you look all around the world kids play baseball with a broomstick and duct tape ball at times. We even played at times with baseballs that the covers had started to peel off and at times whatever ball we could find around the little league fields. Playing hours of baseball I realized it was always easier to play if you had the right equipment. There is a reason you have a catcher’s mitt and first base mitt or that you wear a helmet when you bat. It is just a better way to play the game. Sure you can still play the game, but I would hate to try to catch a Nolan Ryan fastball without the padding of the catcher’s mitt. What is some of the equipment we need for our families to succeed? Maybe we need to have the things listed in 1 Corinthians 13: love that is patient, kind, content, quiet, humble, not rude, not stuck on itself, calm, and let’s a grudge go. If we start there we can totally prepared to be good in a family.
The next thing we need to understand is that with baseball and a family it is always good to have a coach. In baseball it is always good to have someone who can teach you about the game. To help you understand all the nuances and skills you will need to be a successful player. Usually coaches have played before and seen more than us so they can teach us what we need to know. It is helpful to have a coach when it comes to our families as well. The Message Bible says it this way: “Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.” Proverbs 3:5 – 6 lets us know that if we listen to God He can direct us in this whole family life. The Bible has laid out some good thoughts on family and in the next several weeks we will explore how God’s advice on family can help us maybe even become all stars in our families.
A couple of questions for you think about this week:
- How are you taking advantage of the time you have with your family?
- What will you sacrifice to help your family win?
- Are you willing to be coached?