baseball season is upon us

My grandsons are multi-sport athletes.  Currently two of them are playing basketball, but baseball season is about to begin.  All three grandsons will be playing, at least one may be playing on two teams at once.  That’s a lot of sports.  When not playing on an organized team they also play tennis and whiffle ball in the backyard.  

All this sport can have some positive and negative effects.  Children can feel unhealthy pressure to perform or a strong desire to be a “star”.  It can become much too important to win.  Not often, but occasionally coaches and parents can become hateful to each other.  I’ve not witnessed that in our little leagues, but it is early days. 

On the other hand, there is the capacity for team sports to teach interdependence and cooperation in a way that no individual pursuit does.  There is that moment when a player gets hurt on the field, and every player out there takes a knee, waiting to see if the injured player is all right.  Even those on the other team applaud when the player either limps off the field under his own strength or gathers himself to keep playing. 

This is just one example.  The smallest of daily activities can be a holy act if we invite God to participate in it with us.  The Celtic fathers had all kinds of prayers for the most ordinary tasks:  laying the fire, washing the dishes, baking the bread. 

We might think we can run away from God.  We can distract ourselves with all kinds of things like social media, politics, alcohol, sports…any of all of these things can become an obsession.  Do we realize that we take God into anything we do or pursue?  We can drag God into the mud with us or we can elevate the meaning of what we are doing by seeking the good and holy presence of God in it.

Here's a lovely prayer to get you started:

        Water runs over my hands.  Water covers my face.
        Inside, my body consists mostly of water…
        I came to be within the waters of my mother’s womb.
        So when I wash, I like to remember that I am in my element
        Your water—Your living water.
        Help me scrub my face fee of its masks
        so I can return to the true self You gave me.
        Let my hands not be afraid of dirt,
        but let them come clean in obedience to You.
        When I wash, let me recall the Well
        Where the water is.                                  Gunilla Norris

 Love, Liz