Keep your Eye on the Ball- a baseball story

Spring is almost here.....and Spring in the United States means......BASEBALL SEASON BEGINS!
My husband played baseball until he went to college to play basketball- they even say he was a better baseball player than a basketball player....hmmm I saw him play basketball- He was pretty good at that!! Our Family loves baseball.... T received his first t-ball when he was days old from Coach Cecil his daddy's former coach and our friend. He has no other choice than to love the sport as we do!!!

T is so excited this year he is 5 and T-ball is the game. He likes to wear his daddy's old baseball uniform around the house. I took this picture with my phone last year I believe. He has grown a lot since this time last year.
Sign up begins soon- I am looking forward to spending many many seasons from here on out at the diamond- cheering on my little guys!! We still need to get a correct bat- we have had 2 t-ball sets. Both came with plastic bats- so it is time to get a "real" bat.

As I was sitting in the grass this week watching B teach and talk to T about baseball. It was amazing how serious both of them were. B is a great teacher- very patient very good listener and excellent coach!! His main focus was to tell T "what ever you do- don't ever take your eye off the ball when you are playing. You will hit the ball and catch the ball better if you never take your eye off the ball!" And he did- he would occasionally look over at me while batting and swing and miss!! He would say "whoops- took my eye off the ball!" I think he will make a pretty good player-following in good footsteps!! It was hard for me as a mother to sit back and not say anything, honestly it is hard for me to sit anywhere any time and not say anything!! Those who know me well- know what I mean. As I was watching my little boys Father teach him and coach him in something he has yet to play. I was reminded of my heavenly Father- how he is gentle with us and teaches us in different ways of his Glory. In the rising of the Sun- we can see God's Glory and in the smallest bloom on a flower in a field of dead grass- we know there are good things to come to those who wait. God was showing me how I need to sit back and enjoy the Father & Son moment.

A few hours later at supper we sat down to our plates full of food to eat, I told T how proud I was of him and how well he was doing. "Practice makes perfect!" that is what they say so I explained to him if he was going to play- he needed to practice as much as he could. Now that the weather is getting nicer- it will be easy to practice!! Then we talked about keeping your eye on the ball, I shared how in the Bible Peter walked on the water. He said "I thought ONLY JESUS could walk on water?" I said yes, he can and only he can- but once Peter did!! I told him how Peter got out of his boat and started towards Jesus (Matthew 14:22-36) and always keeping his eyes on Jesus he did great. Then when he became fearful he lost sight of Jesus and fell into the water. When the storms of life hit us where do we turn- our friends, phone/facebook to tell the first person the story of how bad it is?? God already knows and he knows the outcome too!! When you seek Him first He will honor your prayers and your cry to him.

Keeping your eye on the ball in baseball is not easy with all the noise in the crowd and distraction from other players. Much like life, when we focus too much on others or too much on things in stead of God- we loose sight of the MOST important thing....Him!! I want to encourage you- if you have lost sight of God or if you have never seen him and his glory in the things I have mentioned. Stop today and Focus on Him- for he is your creator. I can tend to get very busy with life and get busy with other things, and when I don't take time for Him- my days seem longer, more mishaps and much more unwanted stress/strife and drama!!!

I shared with a group at a soup kitchen in Lima, Peru on how we must get out of our comfortable boats and walk across to Jesus grab his hand and hold on- I literally JUMPED like I was leaping out of a boat!!!! He is the way, the truth and the Life- No other way will you have peace, joy and comfort!! I can honestly tell you that my Joy comes from Him!!!

So here I sit watching my little 5 year old playing baseball keeping his eye on the ball- and praying that one day his eyes will be on Jesus and his heart forever his!!!

Mollie