Play ball!
Life is not a trap set for us by God, so that God can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many words you get right, if you make one mistake you are disqualified. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one-third of its games and even the worst team has days of brilliance. Our goal is not to go all year without ever losing a game. Our goal is to win more than we lose, and if we can do that consistently enough, then when the end comes, we will have won it all.
+Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED IF YOU READ THIS COLUMN REGULARLY, I begin with a quote or two from someone whose words resound with me in some way. Rabbi Kushner won the prize this month. In his book, How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness, he gives the reader a different perspective on how God handles our mistakes and foibles. I was taken by how he used the analogy of baseball (play ball!) to show us one way to play the game of life much like the baseball players do. I must confess, I’m not much of a baseball fan unless I’m at a game at the ball park or the Minnesota Twins are playing in the World Series (dream on…). I like the baseball analogy made by the good Rabbi anyway.
My childhood image of God and how I was being judged for my faults and failings pretty much looked like God had set a trap for me to catch me in my weaker moments. The emphasis on sin in my religious upbringing kept at a distance the loving God I now know and worship. My Muslim/ Christian dialogue group has been sharing our images of God in our monthly Zoom meetings, and it’s been a wonderful experience to reflect on just where these images come from and how they change as we are changed and challenged by our life experiences on the physical, mental, spiritual, and social levels.
I’ve never kept track of just how many times I’ve “lost” or been lost in the game of life. I do know that I’ve had some days of brilliance and am grateful to God who gave me the gift or talent to do something brilliant. I’ve come to realize that it’s really not necessary or healthy to be brilliant all the time! I don’t think we need to put ourselves under the pressure to not ever lose in life because loss is just part of the game of life on planet Earth. At least it certainly seems to be so especially after what we have seen these past two years and what we are experiencing even now as the world tries to figure out how to keep from destroying life as we know it.
The Rabbi suggests that our goal is to win more than we lose, and if we can do that consistently enough, then when the end comes, we will have won it all. Quite the goal, don’t you think? I intend to reach this lofty goal by continuing to play in the game of life and share my gifts and talents and treasures with others so when the end comes, and it will, I can meet my Maker and know that I have won it all! I pray that you will join the team so you may do likewise.
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org. ✲
