PHOTO: Throw out a snowball for the first pitch.
There will be no home runs nor no-hitters on this field. It had just suffered shut-out by Mother Nature. March snow storms feel like the whole season has been delayed.
When I was young, I was assured to catch a cold every March or early April. The calendar told us it was the beginning of baseball season. But March's weather was the heavy hitter.
We’d pull out the bats and balls and take off our sweatshirts and jackets to our mothers’ collective horrors. Within weeks, we’d be sneezing and going through more tissues than poor Mom could keep up with.
Flash-forward a few decades and I would do the same thing with God that I did with my mother. I’d pitch Him my project-du-jour and tell him that my calendar said it was time to throw out the first ball.
You know what happens when you tell God your plans: you get snow cones instead of hot dogs.
Snow has covered many of my metaphorical ballfields just when I was sure that Spring was going to finally break. There’s a little boy in all of us; so sure of his own game that he takes his eye off the ball.
Pitchers throw change-ups. Mother Nature throws blizzards. God throws curves. And me, I throw fits.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: We’re often so sure of God’s timing that we think He’s confused when He doesn’t suit up for our game. His timing is an obvious portal because it’s not usually what anyone would expect and so clearly gives Him glory. In mixed-metaphor terms, he has perfect pitch.
There is a time for everything, and a [baseball] season for every activity under the heavens…when the set time had fully come.. but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk [to first base] and not be faint.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV, Galatians 4:4 NIV, Isaiah 40:31 NIV
[Editor’s brackets]