I grew up loving baseball. I have to admit I was a Yankees fan for a while. I’ll never forget the day my dad bought tickets for the Tigers and Yankees. I loved Rickey Henderson at that time.
My memories of baseball include many games at Tiger Stadium and walking along Trumbull. I met Lance Parrish and Champ Summers at a baseball clinic when I was eight. That was one of the best days ever. I played softball in elementary and middle school. My daddy would always give me advice and support our teams.
When I started playing softball. I admit I was afraid of the ball. I was afraid to catch a fly ball. I could take care of a grounder and throw it to first base without thinking. But line drives and fly balls made me anxious.
What could be worse than a line drive coming my way? Standing at the plate ready to swing at a pitch was terrifying for me. I remember many times just standing at the plate. If the umpire was on my side. I would get in my stance and wait for him to yell “Walk”. Then I would proudly toss my bat and run to first base.
Finally my daddy had to give me a pep talk and some batting tips. After many trips to the plate. I finally became the slugger I knew that was always inside me.
Now let’s think about life. What curve balls have you been thrown? If you were like me. You probably just stood still, frozen in time. Hoping and praying that things would go away and you could continue walking the bases.
But it doesn’t work that way. One day I realized that I had all of the tools I needed to handle the curve balls. I just wasn’t using them. It took time but I eventually realized that God gave me a bat for a reason. It was to smash those curve balls in life out of the park.
Yesterday, was a challenging day. I stood waiting on the umpire to just hurry up and call ball four. But that never happened. I had to step up to the plate and handle my business. I knocked that curve ball out of the park. But it took all of the strength that I had inside me. We missed a wonderful graduation party yesterday. So we will have to celebrate the graduate at a later time.
No matter what you facing today. Promise me you’ll do more than stand at the plate. Use your bat accordingly and swing with all of your might.
A Woman's Work - Brooke Basically Blogging 