by Rick Furmanek
My son is currently a Junior playing baseball on the local high school Varsity team in Gilbert, Arizona. To date, his batting average is .487 with 99 Plate Appearances. He has 11 doubles, a triple, 5 home runs, 17 walks, 3 Hit by Pitcher and a Sacrifice. His OnBase Percentage is .596 and his Slugging Percentage is .846. Not too shabby playing 5A baseball.
Now you can perhaps understand why I was puzzled when he approached me yesterday with an honest and somewhat humbled question. He asked, "Dad, why is it that I'm hitting better than I hit last year (his last year's Batting Average on Varsity was .425), and yet I've only hit five home runs?" Unable to respond with a satisfactory answer, I contacted his hitting coach and passed on the question. His coach (a former first round draft pick) chuckled and replied, "If I hit .487 and had five home runs, I'd be in the Hall of Fame." He continued, "I'm glad he's wanting to get better, there's nothing wrong with that, but he also needs to keep the overall perspective."
I suggested that my son set up a time with his coach to discuss the question and also see if there's anything that needs to be changed to help his swing. Fortunately, they were able to meet this morning and he has just returned very excited, declaring, "He fixed it! Just a little tweak with my hands. Boy, what a difference."
As I think about it, I'm reminded that life itself needs to be viewed from an overall proper perspective. Here are a few truths to help us stay on track.
1. Life is a series of tweaks, a few big, and many small. Even the best hitter must give constant attention to his approach and make periodic adjustments as needed to become a more effective hitter. In the same way, our own personal lives need to be regularly monitored and evaluated. The biggest adjustment is when we trade in our life for a new life in Christ. But this change doesn't mean that we immediately become perfect in everything we do and think. Those who choose to begin a new life in Christ soon learn that they have entered into a lifelong process of tweaks and adjustments.
2. Imperfections don't disqualify us from a relationship with God. Just as my son's 'lack of home run production' doesn't disqualify him from being a good hitter, our flaws and inconsistencies, and at times, lack of productivity, don't make us less important in God's eyes. God desires a personal relationship with us, flaws included, and He fully understands where we have come from and where we need to go.
3. You weren't meant to go it all alone. My son is not able see his swing while in the midst of it. He needs a qualified instructor, someone with a trained eye, to evaluate and pick up on the adjustments that need to be made. In the same way, we, too, need an instructor, Jesus Christ. We need His trained and watchful eye to offer guidance as we seek to follow the instructions laid out in the Bible. God wants us to mature, to grow up in Him. We do this by permitting him to monitor and regularly evaluate our lives.
4. Success in this life is dependent upon your willingness to adopt and implement those needed tweaks and adjustments. This often goes without saying, if you only hear the instructions, but don't follow the instructions, it won't do you any good. A trademark of a player who is 'coachable' is one who not only hears what the coach is saying, but he's also willing to do what it takes to make the needed adjustment. In the book of James, chapter one verse twenty-two, it says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (NIV)
5. A life in God is a balanced life. Remember, there will be times when we need to seek out the expertise of someone more qualified than ourselves to evaluate the details in our lives and to suggest ways to improve, and then there will be times when we need to take a step back and look at the 'big picture' and appreciate where we have come from and where God is taking us.
". . . being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
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