With the 2015 World Series now underway, I’m remembering an old, black and white film which includes a scene on a baseball field. In it, Bud Abbot plays a manager and Lou Costello an outfielder. Abbott yells at Costello to catch a line drive careening toward him in the outfield. Costello calls out as he chases the ball: “I got it! I got it!” As he appears ready to grab the ball in his glove, he repeats, “I got it!” Then the ball drops to the ground. He looks at it dumbfounded and says: “I ain’t got it!”
Sometimes in life, I think the same thing happens to us, especially when an unexpected fly ball comes our way. We know we can get it; we’re sure we have our eye on the ball. Then, when the ball hits the ground, we stare at it, shocked and surprised. We wonder how we missed it. We thought we could just see it into the glove, as if our personal will power would make it so.
Except, some of us have a lot to juggle in our lives, let alone track all the fly balls which sail into the outfield of life. Sometimes we believe we’re supposed to catch every line drive which comes our way or that we’re meant to be full-time jugglers. We can put ourselves through all kinds of machinations, believing we’ve “got it.”
The Truth is: Sometimes we just don’t have it. Sometimes, although we hate admitting it to anyone other than our dearest loved one, we feel scared, worried, upset, confused, or overwhelmed. Often we’re exhausted from trying to keep up, catch up, do it all, get it all and have it all.
Yet, some of us still walk around saying, “We’ve got it,” which is only a lie we tell ourselves. Sometimes we need great courage to admit: “I don’t have it. If you could grab this one, I’d really appreciate it.” Sometimes we need to dig deep down into our inner well of faith. Or we need to rest on our raft as we go with the flow of life, occasionally without any kind of map for where the journey is leading.
That’s when we remember: We can’t control everything which happens in life. But, if we choose, we can control ourselves. So we stop juggling, put down the glove, and allow God to play the outfield. This is the surrender which gets us out of our own way and lets God catch the ball, so to speak. It actually gives us power, because it lets us flow more easily on the sacred journey of life, just as many other biblical sages and spiritual masters have done before us. Then we notice that someone else can plan the meeting; write the report; make the dinner; mow the lawn; clean the garage; or grab the line drive. Because even when we don’t “got it,” God always does.
© 2015 – Rev. Jennifer L. Sacks. All rights reserved.
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