Article June 4, 2012 Issue

Thought must move!

Praying the Lord's Prayer doesn't need to feel stale or rote.

Kay Olson

I was a less-than-successful basketball player. In high school I barely made the second string team. But I loved to watch the game.

Basketball has been around since 1891 when a physical education teacher, James Naismith, developed it at a YMCA training school in Massachusetts. Two teams were supposed to throw the ball around until one member managed to toss the ball into a peach basket perched at the top of a high post. The ball was retrieved manually by climbing a ladder.

Soon, a hammock style basket replaced the peach basket. The ball was retrieved manually again—this time by using a pole to pop the ball out. Believe it or not, it took another decade until someone thought to let the ball drop to the floor! I wonder if Dr. Naismith ever asked himself, “Why didn’t I think of that before?” The possibility had been there all along.