Baseball and Life

There is a hard reality that we live each day.  Its something I struggle to understand and live out each moment I fail.  Yet it’s just plain true.  I know it in part, at least enough to speak about it.  I understand it in the academic sense.

It’s baseball season now and I coach my son’s U8 rookie team. I love this age because it’s all about having fun, forging the future of how to play the game and learning the basics of competition.  The boys I coach are all about that hit they got, how many bases they ran and the snack after the game!  But often they fail. They fail at fielding the ball.  It rolls between their legs or they let a pop fly drop to the ground a foot away.  Each time we talk about the play and how they failed and what to do different next time.  Next time, hummm remember there is always a next time when we fail! 

It’s funny how I see these boys.  As their coach I only see the potential, possible player.  I see what they are becoming and what they can become.  I think of Shaun; a first year player that is excelling as a Catcher but fails almost each play.  I think of Jake one of the smallest kids on the team, also a first year player.  He has been hit two times in the face for failing to put the mitt in the right place.  I think of Evan, James, Riley and my Son and only SEE what they are becoming.  I actually expect them to fail.  I know that each of them are learning and in turn they are enjoying the game of baseball.  That is until they fail. 

When they fail they change.  That mistake seems to overtake them, before the play they were smiles and expectant to do their best.  After the failure their heads are down, their smiles are gone and they are dreading the next play.  I will come to them and encourage them, explain what happened so they understand, remind them of the fundamentals and often “tickle” them to get their joy back!  Did I mention that I love this age!  It’s because they laugh when I try to put that smile back on their faces.  Can’t imagine an adult enjoying a good “tickle” on the field to get their joy of the game back.  I think we can learn something from kids!

See, they see themselves as the failed play.  Yet I see them as a growing and potential baseball player.  So I asked God, “is that how you see me, do you see me as I see my boys?”  The answer was a resounding “YES!!!”  In Christ God only sees me as that potential growing Christian, not the failed, useless washed up player!  All my mistakes and failures are simply viewed by God the Father as me learning the game of “LIFE.”

It’s at this very point I struggle to understand and live out how God sees me.  It’s really, I mean really hard to live as if my failures and sin don’t define me any more.  See when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ I am never again seen by God in heaven as a sinner.  I may sin, but that sin is not a defining moment that renders me useless.  Like me as the coach in baseball even though I fail the Father’s view of me is still optimistic and possible.  And just like my players when I sin or fail I often can’t see past my trespass.  I tend to cover myself in that mistake as if it’s who I am.  I identify myself with that moment and resign to walk around with that scarlet letter the rest of my life.  Only thing I am missing is God’s agreement with my assessment of my failed outlook on life.

Funny how He does not EVER agree with that.  Thank YOU God!  Most of us think God would say “You just failed again and as I suspected I now condemn you to that identity, you loser!”  As much as He has every right to condemn me for my failures He only sees me like I see my boys.  Full of possibility, full of life, full of Christ, learning and growing though each mistake.  I just have to see myself as God the Father sees me in Christ.  And accepting His view of my life is one of hardest things I have ever tried.  In Christ I am a new creation and I don’t have to view my life like I did before He was in my life.  That's the new attitude I need to let soak into my life each time I fail.  Especially when I fail at the same thing over and over again!  This is grace.

Now without Christ in my life it’s a different situation entirely and I will save that for another time, but for now think about this.  How well would my boys learn the game without me on the field coaching them?  It would most likely resort to a melee of bats being used as swords and balls being thrown as missiles, chaos would abound.  If you don’t know Jesus, I would suggest you get to know Him and surrender your chaotic life to Him.  Put Him on the field of your life so those messes will turn in to lessons!

For those who already know Jesus, it’s up to us to change our attitude on failure and let Him encourage us after each failed life play.  It’s up to us to see it as a lesson learned, to pickup our thoughts from the floor of failure and realize that we might have been knocked down but we are not out of the game!

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7)