The Warm-Up

I’ve watched a lot of baseball the past few years. Who knew I'd actually begin to understand the game! We spent all day Saturday at LSU for a double-header. It was windy, wet and cold. The team suffered a disappointing turn-around in the first game and lost it.

 

Disheartened and tired, they began warm-ups for the second game. Before each game, the players get into their positions and practiced throws to each other - high balls and grounders - maintaining the flexibility they already gained from the more intense pre-game warmups. I had sat through them hundreds of times, but hardly noticed. This day, sat in my seat bored and cold. My morning devotional had been about gratitude in small things, I began to be grateful to be able to be there to support - uncomfortable as it was. To be with family….and even to be there FOR THE WARMUP!

 

I noticed the skill and athleticism each player had, built from years of training and years of hard work, hours of sweat and sacrifice.  What WENT WITHOUT SAYING was the warmup. Once the game started, the real feats would begin. The warm-up always seemed like busy work. The players could do it in their sleep. But today I SAW it. I appreciated it!

 

The team had pulled themselves out of disappointment …AGAIN. Did the warm-up help in that process? Here they were, warming up…AGAIN. I looked at my grandsons and wondered, how many "again's" they would face in their lifetimes. I wish I’d paid attention at all the other “warm-ups”. I could have learned from their faithfulness, patience, hard work.

 

Disappointed and tired…they got in position, and did it again. Even the routine throws...grounders, hard-balls and high-balls…. reflected flexibility and skill far above most of the spectators. Far above all the arm-chair quarterbacks. (is that what they call them in baseball?) It showed their readiness to do it all again, to put it all out there.

 

The warm-up "went without saying." Of course, they warmed up! Of course, each one had the skill to catch every ball. That went without saying! They were part of the team.

 

What things go without saying in your life? In this senior season, what things go without saying? Without having to decide or plan? Without recognition? Without being noticed?

 

·        marriages, families and careers built

·        friendships formed and nurtured

·        years of grounding in the God's Word

·        prayers prayed in secret

·        faith, courage and patience formed in our characters

·        Just "showing up" year after year

The seemingly boring things…things that GO WITHOUT SAYING

…thankless activities you don’t even remember accomplishing.

 

Things like morning devotionals, prayer, expressions of thanksgiving, meals prepared, journaling to the Lord, acts of service no one noticed…

 

What "bits" of faith did you muster this week that went without saying? For me, I attended a funeral and offered hugs and prayers. I prayed day and night for a grandson in Marine boot camp. I gave counsel to a friend. Filled in for a parent. Offered gratitude for it all to God. I practiced patience in the mundane - sometimes I succeeded.

 

In it all, the heart, skill, wisdom and strength to do these basics look like a mere warm-up, but, in truth,  are possible because of  years of drills, training, routine, practice. Even as we age, here we are – in position – again – warmed up by life’s routines, training, exercises…ready. Of what does your warm-up consist?

 

A great game, a win, a championship would never happen without the warmup. It may have taken a while to find the right team, right game, right sport, the right routine - perhaps the warm up is "for such a time as this." Are there purposes for which you are being prepared? Your "team" is depending on you. The body of Christ needs you conditioned, warmed up and ready for the game. Your family needs you.

 

Have you been warming up a long time? What do you bring to the game? Have you thought the warm-up equaled the game? Stayed there! Afraid to get in the game. You may not experience defeat that way, but you will never know the thrill of a win. In 2 Timothy 4:3, we are told to "Be ready in season and out." Be ready for what the Lord calls you to. Don't skip the warm up! Be ready to get in the game!

  

Helen Keller said "I long to accomplish a great and noble task. But it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."

 

 James 1:4 "And let endurance (patience, steadfastness) have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete (mature), lacking in nothing."