Last night my family and I had the extreme pleasure of watching a whole bunch of little kids playing T-ball. T-Ball for those of you who may not know is when they put the baseball on a "T" and the kids hit the ball off of that. It is usually for kids from about the age of 3 to maybe 6 and the ball, bat and bases is about as close to real baseball as you get in one of these games.
What really made this fun to watch though was the kids themselves. They were clueless as to what they were doing out there. The kid hitting the ball would swing the bat in the general direction of the "T" and usually at least make the ball fall off the "T" and then run for all they were worth towards first base. Now I say towards it because it was rarely a straight line and many times they had to go around infielders who were more interested in the worm they found then the person running by them. There was one little girl who hit the ball and it went down the first base line and while she ran to first, the entire team on the field went after the ball. They weren't interested in getting her out, in fact I'm not sure they even realized that was the idea. No, they were more interested in being the first one to get the ball just so they could run it back over to the coach. I really thought for a moment that the girl was going to get run over by all them as they all ran to the ball, but to her credit she was paying just enough attention to what was going on to stop for a second and then go around them.
Some of the fun of all this as well was just watching what the kids were doing as they were "playing" the game. I mentioned two boys on the first base line looking at a worm they had just discovered and then there were two others that were chasing each other all over the infield. Probably the cutest sight of them all was two little girls, one on the outside of the fence and the other on the inside crouched down, talking to each other then giggling, all these kids totally oblivious as to what was going on.
The there were the parents. Most of them were sitting in chairs socializing and cheering on the kids, didn't matter which kid or team, and in general just relaxing and having some fun and lot's of laughs. They were enjoying life as it was being given to them in the moment and, so it seemed , forgetting that the rest of the world even existed for just an hour or two.
There are any number of lessons to be learned here, but the one I want to focus on for a minute is that we need to relearn the art of relaxing and enjoying the life that we have been given. I am speaking very much for myself here , but I can't help but think that there are probably a lot of others out there like me who can easily let all the troubles in this world get to them.
I am not trying to say that we can become like those little kids playing T-Ball, totally oblivious as to what is going on, but I am saying that for a little while we need to put down all our worries and cares and watch the world through their eyes for a little while. My enjoyment of the game didn't come from their great skills and talents it came from the sheer joy that the kids had going on just being out there playing. No worries, no fears, just sheer pleasure in doing what they were doing.
So what should we do then?
Solomon writes in the book of Ecclesiastes that most everything that we do on this earth, most of the stuff we strive for or to have is nothing more then chasing after vanity and the wind but I really think he sums it up well in a couple of places as to how we should treat this life and as to what we should do.
Eccl.8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
I believe that this is one of the most important verses to found, especially for today's world. We are taught to strive and achieve and go after all the various things that the world has to offer and we are taught to do them even to the point of sacrificing everything else to achieve our goals. I know that I have known many people who strived for that proverbial nest egg/pot at the end of the rainbow, just to loose it all and their families as well. What did they gain from it? Nothing bad hard earned experience.
Solomons solution seems much simpler to me. Eat and drink and enjoy this life that G-D has given you. He is not saying don't try to do better for yourself, but I believe he is saying get your priorities straight. The parents of those kids, had the right idea, They let all the craziness of the world go away for a while and they took time to enjoy their families and the innocence of their children. This is a huge gift from G-D for all of us.
The last point I want to make with this is simple as well, though it seems that this point everyone wants to argue over, and it is the conclusion to the matter. Eccl. 12:13 "Let us hear the conclusion to the whole matter: Fear G-D and keep His commandments,For this is mans all." Simple and to the point.
So enjoy the life that G-D has given you . Fear and love G-D with all of your heart and keep His commandments. I would only add one other thing to it that hopefully would meet with Solomons approval; Get out and watch a T-Ball game and get life back into perspective.
Shalom,
Ignacio
No comments:
Post a Comment