Perfection

 

My youngest nephew's football team.

The Game, Too.

I used to think life was a lot like baseball. There were ups and downs, plays that went according to plan and many that did not, but rarely was there perfection. Baseball is as apt a metaphor for life as any, so let's roll with it.

Growing up in the game, we knew all too well that perfection, not dropping a ball, never striking out, always getting the grounder available to us and making an on-target throw each time, is not reality. Baseball made life a little more understandable.

Grateful for the opportunity to play the game, I now sense a more subtle reason for my life with baseball. Love is now my coach, and I'm so happy. Not referring to human love, this is more about Divine Love and the goodness the Universe Is. That Coach brings all the opportunities a guy could ever want, and the teaching comes from the One True Coach.

Respect the Game

My baseball manager, my favorite baseball manager I ever had, is named Brian Baker. He used to remind me that what I did affected the whole team. In one game, after I had struck out and smacked my bat down on the ground, scowling in dejection, Brian came up to me and said, "Scott, keep a positive attitude even when you strike out. Your teammates look up to you and follow your lead."

These many years later, I appreciate even more what a lesson this was. The message was not "You need to hit the ball every time," or "I'm mad at you for not playing well."  The message I got from Coach Baker was that being positive and productive doesn't require perfection. He taught me that attitude determined altitude. How you deal with failure, big or small, determines your fate more than succeeding every time. By the way, I borrowed the "Attitude Determines Altitude" line from John C Maxwell. At least I think it was his line.
 
Funny how messages have a way of being idle for decades and then suddenly becoming obvious at the perfect time. Like silver threads woven through thorny bushes and thick woods, these ideas survive all that seems irredeemable from life to show us the silver tapestry our life has woven.

Life now says to me in new ways, in new situations "You can't be everything to everyone. Quit expecting perfection from yourself."

All that is left is to Live Life. Life is perfect in all it's wrinkles and Pimples. The Oneness does not make mistakes. Relax and acknowledge your errors and how you feel about them. Do this with your amazing catches, too. They are all a part of the same Game.