Don't Be Still

As seen in HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

Don’t Be Still

             Coaching baseball is not as easy as it looks, and coaching any sport is the same.  Each position on the baseball field needs specific skills in order to play it properly.  A quickness of response is needed in much of the infield positions.  However, an ability to react without thinking is needed at third base.  That is why it is called the “hot corner.”  The player can play deep in the infield, but doing so risked a ball bunted down the third-base line to a void, allowing the base runner an easy hit.  Therefore, the third-base position must play closer, if not closest to the batter than any other position.

Defense is only one aspect of the game.  Don’t forget the offensive side with all the nuances of the dual between the pitcher and the batter.  There are sacrifice fly outs, bunts, bloopers (ala Pete Rose), and over-powering batters who try to knock the ball more than one and a half times the length of a football field.  Coaching all of this doesn’t just take a coach, it takes a cadre of knowledgeable, motivational experts.

There is one coach on the staff whose sole purpose is to improve the batting averages of the players – the hitting coach.  If the entire team got a hit every time they were at bat, then there would be no need for this coach.  In reality, players struggle periodically while some stay in a hitting slump for weeks at a time.  One phrase which comes out of the coach’s mouth is this: “Swing the bat!”  In other words, don’t be still at the plate!

The psalmist wrote, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  Is the psalmist proposing the only way or even the best way to know God is to be still?  I would say no.  The psalmist is telling us to acknowledge God and all the power He has.  The verses following certainly need to be added to this quote: “’I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  Yes, sometimes we need to clear our minds of all the clutter so we can marvel at the wonders of God and truly realize His awesomeness.  But I believe the exact opposite of being still is the best way.

When God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, nothing in His creation was static.  An astronomer will tell you the universe is in constant motion.  Stars move, planets move in their orbits around the stars, and moons orbit around planets.  Everything is moving!  God is a God of movement!  Therefore, the way to allow God to work through you is to clear your mind of preconceived self-aggrandizement and let God take the helm