Gotta Think!!!

“I Got It, I Got It… Thunk.”

On dropped balls, tidy excuses, and the grace to keep playing

You know the scene, even if you’ve never played a day of ball. The outfielder plants his feet, lifts his glove, and calls it with total confidence: “I got it, I got it, I got it!” And then — thunk. The ball finds the grass instead of the glove. And before he’s even picked it up, the excuses are lining up: the sun was in my eyes, the wind grabbed it, I’ve got a lot on my mind, I just needed a second to think.

Oh, how I know that feeling. I bought this little cartoon because it caught me so perfectly. So many times I’ve replayed a moment and asked myself why I didn’t do it flawlessly — a talk that didn’t land the way I’d hoped, a day I fell short. But here is the truth I keep having to relearn: everyone drops the ball. Even the professionals miss. The miss isn’t the real story. What we do next is.

Excuses, or the game we love

When we drop the ball, the excuses come quickly — the cartoon shows just how quickly! And sometimes our reasons are real; every one of us is carrying something unique that the crowd can’t see. But there’s a braver response than the tidy excuse: to learn what the miss has to teach us, and then to keep playing — out of love for the game and the honest desire to do well, not out of fear of dropping it again. That’s how the pros became pros. Not by never missing. By never quitting.

Seen for who we’re becoming

I once heard someone say that God loves us because He can already see the end result. He isn’t grading us on the ball we just dropped. He sees our potential — who we are becoming. People tend to judge one another by what we are right now. God looks at us and loves us for who He knows we can grow into. What a relief that is on the days we feel like we’ve fumbled everything.

And every now and then, a person on this earth sees us that way too. Not long ago I asked a friend to write a few words about my classes. I expected him to mention what I’d taught — the information, the tips. Instead, he wrote about something I never set out to teach at all:

"We were fortunate to have Steffanie visit us in New Zealand earlier this year. She presented two meetings about her passion for life despite the many challenges she has confronted, and about using essential oils for health. She has a lovely, calm serenity about her that was quite captivating — and though she was a very busy mom, she was able to maintain this. These qualities were inspiring to others. Steffanie has a gift, but she teaches that we all do too — we need to unleash it and reach our potential and beyond."

— Dr. Bill Reeder, Biomedical Clinic, Hampton, New Zealand

I never said a single word in those classes about “reaching our potential and beyond.” But that’s what Dr. Reeder carried home. And it taught me something I don’t want to forget: sometimes we make our deepest difference in the very ways we never planned — and may never see.

So if you’re feeling low today — if you’ve dropped a ball you were sure you had, and you’ve half-convinced yourself that no one is any better for your being here — please, just hold on. You may have missed the exact catch you were reaching for. But if you played with love, you made a difference, quite possibly in a way you’ll never know about this side of heaven. God sees it. Someone in the stands may be carrying it home right now.

Dust off your glove. Keep playing the game you love.

Lots of love to you,

Steffi