Jonah is playing t-ball for the first time this spring. One of my favorite things about Jonah is that he thoroughly enjoys the fullness of every new experience. Baseball has been no exception. He loves it.
T-ball has provided me with some life lessons as well. The experience has taken me through several stages of inner dialogue (the voices in my head). The stages have gone a little something like this...
1. I'm so excited. Look at this team - it's so diverse! We are going to know and love our community even more intimately through this experience. I can't wait to get to know all the kids and all their parents.
2. What are we doing on this team? Are Steve and I the only dad or mom who do not have tatoos all over our bodies? I feel so different, so dorky, so white. No one here wants to talk to me. Maybe I should have signed Jonah up for the league on the other side of town.
3. This league feels too chaotic for me. Does anyone around here know what they are doing? Why didn't anyone tell me about the Parent Work Day? There's trash all over the field. The weeds are ridiculouly high. And look at all the gopher holes - those are dangerous! Why doesn't the school have enough money to maintain these fields? The baseball fields in Danville looked nothing like this.
4. We're switching from practices to games now. It's really fun to cheer for Jonah. It's fun to cheer on the other kids as well. Okay, I think I'm enjoying this again.
5. "Sure, I'll volunteer to work at the snack bar with some of the other moms from the team." For two hours, we sell hotdogs, nachos and candy with one another. Dialogue begins. Walls come down. Relationships begin. Bridges are built.
6. There's my new friends. We wave and exchange pleasantries at the games. I'm learning more about the kids and their families. There are many little ones who are carrying deep burdens: single mom who works full time, dead-beat dad, mom's boyfriend, dad's girlfriend, behavior issues, learning difficulties, generations of brokennes. I feel my heart changing. Compassion creeps in. I start to love them.
7. We aren't so different afterall. We hurt the same, we laugh the same, we love the same. We're all created in the image of God.
8. I no longer see the trash on the fields. The weeds aren't so tall and the holes in the grass aren't so deep. I love this place. I can't wait for the next game and my next conversation with my new friends.
2 comments:
The fields here in Danville might be nicer but the people still have problems and issue, albeit different, and we are still just as broken. I think you are more likely to make a difference there, but you never know where God wants us to be working for him.
I do love playing catch with Camden.
I love your honesty--and you inspire me to embrace my "neighborhood" too. Just can't wait to find it!
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