Swing Thru the Ball
I have been blessed with an incredible wife, Faith, and two wonderful sons, Mark and Justin. Mark (the elder at almost 7) is like his Dad in a lot of ways, including that he is not a “natural athlete�. He is gifted by God in many ways, but like his Dad, some things take more work than others.
We were working with the T-ball setup in the backyard the other day, and I was trying to help him make solid contact. He was concentrating on his hands and wrists too much (it seemed to me) so I tried to help him loosen up a bit. Inspired from somewhere unknown, I had him step back and just turn his upper body for a while, letting his arms swing freely. I tried to tell him that the swing really comes from the center of the body, not the hands.
Then we took the bat and held it next to the ball. I asked him to just turn his shoulders and bring the bat up behind him. Then, keeping his eyes on the ball, just rotate his shoulders and let his arms swing freely. I somehow convinced him that, if he kept his eyes on the ball, directed his concentration at the center of his body, and let everything else relax and move freely, the bat had no choice but to hit the ball dead center.
Wow! The look on his face as the ball sailed away – priceless. Not exactly out of the park, but it made an impression on the both of us.
It took my wife to really bring it into perspective for me, however. When I reported the afternoon’s triumph to her, she smiled and said:
“That’s just like in our walk with Christ, isn’t it? We tend to focus so much on the details of the things we feel pressed to do, on the outcomes and results. We should just keep our eyes on Him, both as our goal and as the center of our being, and relax and let the rest take care of itself.�
Wow!
April 25th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Very cool!
April 25th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
[…] I love the metaphor Keith used here about helping his son see beyond the mechanics of batting, and the perspective gained from taking something like this and applying it to life. It reminded me of another baseball metaphor I have been thinking about a lot recently… […]
April 25th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Love it, Keith!! We need to relax and “swing through” . . . A great metaphor!
April 25th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
And maybe a reminder of the value of disciplines too, as we subconsciously learn to take on motions and habits that will ultimately continue to benefit us in many other settings.
May 25th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Parke, great to meet you at Origins. It is so funny, we talked so much about Vox and blogging, and how great it was to meet people in person, who you had only knownin cyberspace. I am so new to it, that I was not even thinking about it in the first person.
Then we introduce ourselves on Tuesday afternoon, after sitting in sessios together for a day-and-a-half and I realize, “Hey, that’s one of the guys who commented on my blog”. It is cool.
Hope to continue the real and virtual friendship.