Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Life and Ball

Ethan has spent all of his summers at the ball park watching his brother and sister play. This year HE gets to play!!! He is loving it! Sorry the picture is blurry... took it through a wire fence. Here is Ethan... first game, first time on base! I don't think he stops smiling the whole time we are at the game..... He has wonderful coaches and the kids are so fun to watch at this level!!

Robyn is playing ball for the 5th summer. She is a natural athlete with a passion for the game. She is a dynamite catcher. She is struggling this year..... the last couple of years she has played on some very strong teams, but this year has been a little frustrating. It is a good learning opportunity for her to step up and be a leader and continue to play her heart out even if some of the others are not following suite. Her team actually won a game last night so that cheered her up a bit!! She came home extra encouraged because the coach on the OTHER team came up to her after the game and told her that she "is a great catcher and wished that his catcher could make plays like her"! A positive word goes a LONG way!!! Softball has a good way of teaching life lessons: we can't control how others are acting (living, playing, speaking), but we do have control over our own actions and we have a choice.... become like those we are around or stand up for what is right and keep our actions correct.

Robyn had a very bad attitude during one game and wasn't behaving in a way that set a good example. She later apologized to her coaches and has worked very hard at keeping the right attitude and doing her personal best regardless of others.
Isn't that life?? Isn't it so easy to justify a "bad attitude" because circumstances are not going the way we want?? It is so easy to let the choices and actions of others "put us in a bad mood". However, Jesus calls us to personal responsibility... It doesn't matter how others are acting... we are not responsible for them... we are totally responsible for our OWN actions, attitudes and words!!!


Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Good for Robyn for owning up to it, apologizing and learning from it. Nobody is perfect - it is what you do with your mistakes that count!

There is something about the ballpark on a summer night...

Leanne said...

First-- LOVE the picture! Second-we signed Christopher up for Soccer this year, because he needs to start working as a teammate and following directions better. I have learned a lot about his heart issues by putting him in preschool and am hoping to learn more by getting him into sports. Poor Matthew is in the fustrating stage of only being able to WATCH for now. His time is coming, though!
Thanks for sharing that about Robyn. Its so awesome to watch our kids fail and then redeem themselves--and a great example of how Jesus redeems me!! How awesome!