Is Your Glove Ready? Play Ball!

Springtime in Texas is famous for unpredictable weather. We’re less than halfway into March, and depending on where you are in the Lone Star State, you’ve experienced snow, rain, hail, temperatures in excess of 80 degrees, freeze warnings, and wind that will blow the hair right off of your head!

While the weather may be a little confused, one sure way for me to know that spring has sprung is to take a look at my calendar and see softball games scheduled every couple of days. This will be our third softball season with the grandgirls, and we’re geared up with sunscreen, folding chairs, and water bottles. We’ll have blankets in the trunk of the car in case spring shows up looking a whole lot like winter. And we won’t be surprised.

It's fun to watch our girly girls get tough on the field, but make no mistake – they still love their bling. The clack-clack-clack of their cleats as they walk down the concourse taps in rhythm to their swaying ponytails poking out of the backs of their ballcaps. They still squeal in delight when their team pulls off a good play or a batter smacks the ball. The dugouts are littered with pink, purple, and sparkly gloves, cleats, and bats.

The girls are learning the elements of play, the rules, strategy, and how to best use and care for their equipment. They’ve figured out that the quality of a softball glove can make or break them, and they’re figuring out that the more often they play catch and put that glove to use, the more effective they’ll be at handling a ball when the big play comes their way.

There are several ways to break in a new glove, and anyone who’s ever played much ball will tell you that the best way to break in a glove is to play with it. Another helpful tip is to place a softball in the palm of the glove and secure rubber bands or other ties around the glove so that it develops the shape of the ball. Application of a good leather conditioner to soften the glove works, too.

And these processes just might teach us a thing or two about life with Jesus.

First, the best way to figure out how to live the Christian life is to just get after it. Things that might intimidate you or that you may feel insecure about just keep getting easier as you practice. Knowing the rules in softball is helpful, but actually learning to catch a ball and wield a bat will build your confidence and increase your skill level. Knowing the Word for a believer will teach you a lot about the game of life, but putting all of that understanding and wisdom into practice is where transformation happens and lives change. Softball is a team sport, and so is the Christian life. God provides a family of believers in His Church, and the camaraderie and encouragement of your brothers and sisters will keep you motivated when the game seems to go longer than you thought you could endure. You’ve been given your own set of skills to enhance the team, and God – your Life Coach – expects you to use them for the good of the Church. So get in the game!

The second method of breaking in a glove – wrapping the glove around a softball placed in the palm for an extended period of time – helps the glove to take on the shape of the ball so that when a ball comes your way (provided you catch it!), it will fall securely into the pocket made ready for it by shaping it beforehand. A ball-shaped glove is just waiting for its time in the spotlight to make contact and make the play. Time in the Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other Jesus followers is a way of shaping you for the Christian life. And the longer you submit to these disciplines, the more natural it is to be conformed to the image of Christ. When life figuratively throws you a curveball, you’re prepared. Long periods of time being conditioned in how to respond to challenging situations prepare you to make the wisest, most God-honoring move when the time comes.

Finally, a good leather conditioner can help to make a glove softer and more pliable so that any movement of the hand within the glove is more natural and the glove practically serves as an extension of the hand in catching the ball. God uses a multitude of things to soften our hearts and make them more pliable. Difficult relationships serve to teach us compassion and understanding, patience and grace, forgiveness and kindness. Unfair circumstances teach us to value justice and to trust God for His future vindication. Illnesses teach us to value our health and to care for our bodies – the earthly dwelling place of God’s Holy Spirit. His conditioning of our souls allows us to more naturally and easily move in accordance with His will and purpose. We become an extension of His kingdom plans as we submit to His work in our lives.

If one of our grandgirls complains that her new softball glove is a little too stiff, I think I’m ready to lend a hand in breaking it in. And when I do, I’ll be thinking of all the Lord has done to “break me in” and make me a useful vessel in His kingdom.

It’s springtime, friends! Play ball!

*****

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.” – Ezekiel 36:26-27

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” – 1 John 3:2