Staying Power

It is often impossible to understand the staying power of baseball.

“There is something transformational about connecting with the game at the right time in your life — almost always in youth — when you learn to fully embrace its character and every potential: the patience and endurance required, the long season, the triumph, the forgiveness. When you fall in love with this game, there is no doubt.

Even as childhood fades, we still believe in what the game can impart. That youthful affection can be kept alive even in the face of a midlife crisis or bad news at the doctor’s office. Baseball  gave my sick father hope when he watched me play on television from his hospital room, the same hope he had when I hit my first Little League home run and he slipped me a $10 bill as a reward. Time stops for baseball.

And so the game seems to have an uncanny ability to endure through the great challenges the world brings to us — not just larger events like wars and struggles for racial equality, but internal wounds suffered by the game: from the Black Sox cheating scandal to the age of steroids.

Given all that, the game and its magic appear indestructible. It gives rise to a kind of faith. But even the most faithful at times experience doubt.”

~From Baseball, Faith and Doubt by Doug Glanville NYT 8.17.12

 What has your faith practice been like this week?  What are you doubting right now? What must you endure in the days and months ahead that feels challenging?   In what do you place your hope?  Does your faith have staying power for you or do you need some practice?