Most baseball players have intricate routines. Some call them superstitions and perhaps they are. Players may opt to call these routines simply part of the preparation to play. Whether it’s putting on the uniform the same way (right before left for me), not stepping on foul lines (guilty again), or a batter’s box routine that would win choreography awards on Broadway, baseball players have routines.
Any player of routine or superstition will tell you that one interruption in his preparation requires him to start over. If a left sock went on before a right one, the uniform must be taken off and reapplied. If the batting gloves were not tightened and spit upon between pitches, time must be called to rectify this potentially devastating blow to the current at-bat.
Players prepare meticulously to play. The question is, do we prepare as meticulously for life? Do we have a routine that puts us in position to succeed in what really matters. As important as baseball is, it pales in comparison to life, dating, marriage parenting, and eternity.
Proverbs 7:3–“Tie them (wisdom and wise commandments) to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart” (HCSB).
If you don’t take preparation for life as seriously as you do preparation for a game, you will fail at what really matters. Just as you would put on a uniform a certain way, approach wisdom with the same intensity, tying it to your hands. Just as your between-pitch routine gets you mentally focused to hit, allow biblical wisdom to get you focused to succeed as a person, a parent, a coach, a teammate (wisdom written on your heart).
Are you as prepared for life as you are for the next game?
Here’s a prayer:
Lord Jesus, I must admit, I’m more meticulous about putting on my uniform than I am about putting on your wisdom each day. Please change this in me. Prepare me for life with you on this earth and for all eternity. Amen.
