Most of us are creatures of habit. We wake up at the same time. We typically eat the same things. We wear the same kind of clothes. We travel the same routes and keep the same routines. Life has a rhythm like that. We get in the groove in our familiar routines. We get in a comfort zone and know what is expected of us. We learn how to perform at optimum levels.
We get married. We have kids. We pursue our careers. We buy houses, go to ball games, celebrate birthdays, and make holiday memories.
Some of us even get pretty good. We are like a batter in the batting cage before a ball game hitting moderate fastballs. You find your timing and make solid contact time and again.
Yet in the game the pitcher is trained to throw the batter off guard with off speed pitches and breaking balls like the curve. Many a hitter has been fooled by the curve ball and swung helplessly missing the ball.
Life can be like that. You are enjoying your routines and then suddenly you are thrown a curve ball. An aging parent has an accident causing every part of your life to be thrown into upheaval. You find yourself scrambling after a home repair surfaces unexpectedly. Curve balls in life come in the form of kids getting sick necessitating changes in schedules. Curve balls sometimes are more life and death serious.
Why are we lulled to sleep in life not expecting curve balls. They come. We often see them from a distance impacting others but we think we are immune. This is not the case. Sooner or later in life we all face adversity. I talked with a widow once who told me her mother in law asked why a tragedy had to happen to their family. The grieving wife responded saying, "Why not us? We are no different or better than anyone else." So very true.
Tragedies happen. Pain arises. Health fails. Curve balls come. If you have trained yourself to hit the curve ball you learn how to face these adversities in faith. [Rom 12:12] You learn to lean on God to help you.[Ps 46:1] You learn how to adjust your routine. [Ps 119:105] You read the Bible with a new intensity and tenaciously cling to helpful truths found there. [Ps 119: 165] You pray with more fervency. [James 5:16] You gain new strength to endure more than you ever imagined you could. [Eph 3:20] You hit the curve ball.
As you go to bed tonight or wake in the morning expect some curve balls to come. Tomorrow may be another day in the batting cage enjoying the familiar and predictable. Keep looking for the curve ball. Sooner or later one or more will be thrown in your direction. With God's strength you can hit it in the sweet spot.
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