A diamond in the dirt

The past few weeks, our lives have seemingly been overtaken by a diamond in the dirt. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's a baseball diamond. You know...that square patch of dirt with white boxes in each corner...where everyone from children to grown men spend countless amounts of time trying to hit a little ball with a stick and run from points A to B to C to make getting to D count. This spring, both of my children signed up to play, and on one hand it's been very rewarding and on the other it has proven to be a very frustrating experience.

Greg. loves. baseball. It's his sport, his thing. It's what he spent the majority of his youth involved in. Whether he played for the local pony league, for Hargrave, or for the Martinsville Oilers, he loved to play. It's a game he knows, and stepping back into baseball after being gone from it for so long has been a seamless transition for him. His heart is overflowing once again with love for the game and all of this baseball has taken him back to the glory of his youth. (Lord, help me!)

However, for one young son who has spent uncountable hours practicing, playing, and perfecting the game of soccer, the move to baseball has not been so easy. We're learning so much through this, and believe you me....it's not always been an enjoyable experience. Going from a team where you are a leader and anchor to playing on a team where you just want to get off the bench has been a humbling experience for my soon to be teenager. Joel has learned that the game is not quite as easy as it looks. It has taken many, many weeks, and much practice and last night he finally came home triumphant because he got a hit! Too bad this was only practice....if he ever does it in a game, he just might get so excited he won't make it around the bases. Not only is the hitting hard to get used to, but the pace of the game is really different as well. So as much as I don't like the everyday practices, two and a half hour games, frustrations and "discussions", it has already ended up being a good learning experience for him. And we're finding so many teaching opportunities in it.


Julia loves her girls softball team. She likes it so much better than soccer. It's non-contact (for the most part). It doesn't require too much running, and it doesn't seem to interfere with the other things she loves to do. We'll see how she does.


For me, baseball is an opportunity to just sit back and relax while watching my children play. It doesn't involve the same amount of emotion and adrenaline as soccer. It's something that I played, so I can get out and play with them, and it's one more thing that we can spend time doing together.


And isn't that the point of it all, anyway?


Blessings!