I just woke up from a dream that I would gladly have gone back to for a few more minutes. Nothing like dreaming about the duck blind, the dog, and a few mallards setting into the decoys. But my Door County German Chocolate Cake Coffee was calling from the kitchen and the dog was bouncing around, greeting me with enthusiasm to be fed. Maybe a nap later with the same dream??? One can hope.
Not only did I play Little League Baseball, but I also coached for several years. One of the hardest things to teach a young kid was to stay in the batters box. There is a tendency to "over avoid" a baseball that is thrown your way and will probably hurt when it lands on your body. It is especially difficult to get a kid to stay in that box if they have experienced a "bean ball". You tell them to step up, hang in there, keep their eye on the ball and wow wouldn't you know it your pitcher has one slip and that poor kid has to hit the dirt before his brains get scrambled. It's real tough then to get them back in the box with confidence.
That is one reason why I did not let my little leaguers pitch batting practice. I wanted to save their arms for the games and I wanted to have someone with control place the pitches where I wanted them for each batter to practice on. We would start out with slower pitches while building up confidence in the timid hitter. We would use encouraging words and day by day speed up the pitch a little more. Once the confidence was achieved to a point where you could see it, we would throw one in at them a little high and tight. They would react in one of two ways with confidence. They would dodge the pitch if needed and step back in or if possible they would take that inside pitch and knock it into the outfield with pride.
We use the words "step up" all too often in life, especially in relationships when we want someone to grow out of their personal issues. Or when we want someone to step up to the next level of maturity, either personal or spiritual. I see this all the time in families and life in general. The same people who are using the words "step up" to challenge someone into growth are the worst pitchers in the world. They are the ones throwing the verbal "bean balls" of discouragement. We learned very quickly that you could not shame a kid into confidence. My assistant coaches would put a helmet on, lay on the ground in the batters box, putting themselves in harms way and hold a kids feet in place. They not only had to worry about a wayward pitch but also a baseball bat swinging around. Probably antique coaching styles for these days, but the point is this. They were in the box with that kid, battling with them, not against them. The whole time encouraging them "you can do it, good job, here we go".
What kind of support are you to those around you who need to step up into something? Are you positive, supportive, an encourager or are you just a fan in the cheap seats that throws verbal assaults because you bought a ticket to the game of life? I find that these people have high expectations of others while their personal batting average in life is very low. They build up themselves by tearing others down. This is wrong. Scripture is very clear on this.
1 Thessalonians 5:11English Standard Version (ESV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
So let's all step up and encourage instead of throwing the bean balls of discouragement.
God bless your day.
Marty
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