E6

Last night was opening night for our softball team.

I was excited and ready to get the season underway.

I like competing, being active and hanging / making new friends.

We were the home team, which to the softball novice means we were in the field, playing defense first.

I took my usual spot at shortstop, my favorite position.

The first ball hit was a routine ground ball to me… E6.

Again, if you’re not familiar with softball, when scorekeeping a game, that’s how you record an error by the shortstop.

That was the first play of the season. Lame.

My first at bat came with two runners on.

Here was a great opportunity for me to redeem myself.

So what did I do? Popped out to shallow left field. Ugh.

Unfortunately, there was plenty more where that came from.

Individually, I played terrible. As a team, we played terrible.

We lost the first game 22-2.

The good news is we played much better in the second game; we only lost by 10.

It seemed like nothing went right all night.

It was frustrating.

Every time I tried to correct a mistake I made another one.

Have you felt like that before?

Everything that could go wrong, does?

It’s a bit of a helpless feeling.

So how do you respond when it all goes wrong? What do you do? What do you say?

Last night, all I could do was laugh.

In the past I probably would have kicked something or swore… or both.

Call it what you will: maturity, lack of competitive spirit, or something else.

For me it was refreshing.

Do I want to win? Do I want to play well?

Yes to both.

Sometimes things don’t workout the way you want them to.

What’s your reaction? How do you respond?

When it all goes wrong remember these passages from scripture.

More important than remembering them, apply them to your life.

Pray them.

Act upon them.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lamentations 3.22-23, NLT)

God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. (Genesis 51.10, MSG)

Does it change what happened last night?

No, we still lost and I played poorly.

But today is a new day.

God has given me a fresh start and a clean slate.

Not just me. You have one too.

Make the most of it today and keep laughing.

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