Summer softball - part 2

Minnesotans are known for “Minnesota nice,” which is a cultural trait that basically says, “always be nice…even if through gritted teeth.” Sitting in the stands, you could feel the tension in the air. The critical fan was having a wonderful time…the rest of the fans…well, not so much. Even less so, the players. Personally, I do not excel in the area of dealing with conflict. In fact, I usually would rather avoid it. However, I have learned that avoiding conflict does not make it go away. It simply gets shoved under a rug, so I can trip over it at a later time. I did not feel like I had a handy tool to stop this harassment, so I was thinking about how best to handle it. While I was thinking…one of the dad’s was doing. He made a kind and respectful comment questioning the reason for “being so tough on that player.” As it turns out, the critical fan was the older sister of the player. Both she and the mom shared about how lucky the player was to have a sister who would “tell her the truth.” It was evident to all, expect our critical fan, that a key factor had been forgotten, that was the inclusion of love.
How do we make the act of gracious living, of living out love, part of our lives? Do we shout encouragement to each other as we are “playing” the game of life? Author Joseph Bush states, ““Veracity (truth) can…be a matter of living true in relationship with one another and of being true in relationship to the story of our faith.” Does our story of faith impact how we might relate with others? Over the next few posts, I would like to explore what gracious living might look like in life and how our own faith story may impact how we are with each other.
The second part of the double header was a downward acceleration for the home team. Soon they were 8 runs behind. The team continued the errors, the critical fan continued the onslaught, although thankfully at a lower volume. Toward the end of the game, the fan gave up and went off to watch another game. Something interesting happened toward the end of this story. As soon as the fan left, the other fans seemed to sense the lack of tension. They returned to their encouragement of the players and the home team loaded the bases and scored two runs. While they did not score enough to win, it was a clear picture to those watching, the power of our words on others.