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Batter up!
After college, I coached a girl’s baseball team, and through my experiences on the field I’ve realized there are many spiritual analogies that one can draw from the sport.
For example, infielders and outfielders are continually engaged in strategic positioning. This pre-positioning is in anticipation of hits and potential plays, and gauged to achieve optimal results. Similarly, I like to think about the mental positions we occupy. God’s man is poised and equipped to grow spiritually, so we can’t be stuck in an entrenched position that inhibits growth in our personal and professional lives. In Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she says, “In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown” (p. 74). The time to assume our best mental “position,” one that uses a spiritual standpoint as its basis, is always now.
Years ago, a friend shared a testimony at a Wednesday evening meeting at church. It was about how the story of David and Goliath (see I Samuel 17) helped improve her game when she was playing in an adult softball league. She wanted to do her best for the team, expressing courage, and one day she took David’s example to heart—how he fearlessly approached Goliath. She began running toward the balls that were coming to her in her outfield position. And she had some great results.
God’s man is poised and equipped to grow spiritually.
How often are we waiting in the field of our endeavors for God’s goodness to come to us? Can we make more of a David-like effort to hasten toward God’s goodness with a sense of true confidence and joyous expectancy? Living life to the fullest does require an active effort, but divine Mind supplies infinite opportunities, so the ideas we receive can very naturally be put into practice. Every interaction with someone, no matter how challenging, is an opportunity to be more joyous, selfless, and kind. It is an opportunity for uplifting thought, and we can be the best “teammates” when we practice this wherever we are, whether it’s on the road, in the office, in the grocery store, and, especially, in church.
The world will throw us curves, whether we feel ready or not. Like every dedicated player, we need to be prepared for whatever comes—spiritually practiced up. Putting one’s faith into practice requires regular study and prayer, diligence, and striving to maintain a spiritual altitude of thought.
What is the reward for playing on God’s team, for letting our lives glorify Him? We’ll find we have everything we need to meet what may come our way, and by working at spiritually identifying ourselves, by strengthening our faith, we’ll then be able to offer prayerful assistance to those in need—our family, our church family, our fellow man. So don’t be afraid to step up to the plate. God has made sure you’re ready!