Friday, October 06, 2006


Play Ball! Posted by Picasa

Tee-Ball

Anna’s grandparents gave her a tee-ball set for her birthday and for the first time in my life, I got to teach another person how to hold a baseball bat… It was sort of a milestone for Anna and me. I showed her where to put her hands, which one goes on top and where to hold the bat before you start your swing. I held her little elbows up and got the bat in perfect position and told her, “Okay Anna… swing!”

I’d like to tell you that she busted a homer into our neighbor’s yard, but it didn’t happen. In fact, after whiffing, she swung back the other way, then the right way, then the other way… eventually, she hit the tee-ball stand and the ball fell to the ground at which point she decided that she wanted to hit the ball all over the yard on the ground saying, “Look Dad… I play golf!” It wasn’t exactly baseball, but it was a ton of fun! I guess this should be super obvious, but that little scene made me realize that swinging a baseball bat doesn’t come naturally for kids, even if they are red-blooded Americans. You have to show them how; and if they are really going to get it, you have to show them how again and again. Anna actually had a few killer swings that day, but only after I held those little elbows up a bunch of times.

The other day I was reading Proverbs 2 and I noticed something else that should be super obvious but I think we sometimes forget… wisdom doesn’t come naturally. You have to call out for it and search for it. It is called a hidden treasure that must be mined for. We are not born knowing how to live, what to do, what to say or how to think and act. To live well and walk through life with skill, we have to ask God to give us wisdom. Proverbs 2:10-11 says that if you look for it and ask God for it, “…wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”

So often we protect and treasure our own opinions, ideas and instincts as if they were absolute truth, but the longer I live I’m realizing that I don’t need to protect anything of my own as much as I need to be protected from myself. We don’t automatically have wisdom inside us… it must enter us from the outside. It has to be looked for, searched for and given… only then will it enter our hearts. He has to show us where to put our hands, how to hold the bat and tell us when to swing, otherwise we’re just whiffing…

1 comment:

Cody Blair said...

anna is TOO cute Lee. thanks for sharing stories of your family on here. and great words today. Proverbs 2 is powerful

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