The Baseball Game with an Impact

In preparation for a post-church class, we packed a picnic lunch today. The "class" was shorter than we had expected so we took advantage of the already prepared picnic lunch and beautiful weather. What better way to do that than head to the park?!

Our kids were thrilled to be getting an unplanned trip to the park, and the fact that daddy was there made it even sweeter. Mike's work schedule has limited our chance to enjoy many moments like these over the last 6 months. After a long and tiring weekend, we made the most of our time at the park. At one point, Mike was pretending to play baseball on the baseball field adjacent to the park. Forget the slides, swings, and monkey bars- daddy's here and running around. They relished every moment with him and he embraced the fun, despite the sweat and breathlessness from running the bases. This is what childhood memories are made of, those priceless moments that stick in their minds!

Along with our kids, there was a young girl there with her grandma. I'm guessing she was around 2 1/2. As Mike ran around with the kids, she timidly made her way to the baseball diamond to join the fun with the crazy man and wild kids. Mike took the time to include her in "the game". Giving her a chance to pitch as well as hit and run the bases. It was definitely what I'd imagine a pee-wee t-ball field scene to look like. A man attempting to bring order to a field of kids running in disorganized chaos. I alternated between watching in awe and participating as I took breaks to "check in with Kaitlyn". Let's be real though, I was not interested in being sore tomorrow nor did I think running was fun, ever!  

Our guest player seemed to be enjoying herself and her grandma was thrilled she was having fun. Little did we know the impact our time would have on this family. As I was standing to the side, the grandmother thanked me for including her granddaughter. She proceeded to tell me that the girl had just lost her father and she was so thankful that my husband had taken the time to include her. 

Our fun time at the park, in an instant, changed. Not for the bad nor did it physically change. It did however change us and I'm fairly certain that the grandmother left with some joy in her heart from their trip to the park as well. 

In church and at home, we've really been working on showing love and kindness, even when we don't feel like it or when someone doesn't really deserve it. We've had the opportunity to put words to actions recently and it has been amazing. Our chance to "love on" another child was simply an act of playing at the playground and making an effort to be kind and involve others, even strangers.  I definitely got teary eyed when I walked away and thought of how blessed we are to have Mike.  He could have easily chosen to let her play alongside without putting forth effort to include her. What a blessing that we were given a chance to show God's love through kindness to complete strangers.  Even more importantly, thankful for a God who loves us enough to use us as His hands and feet, even in the simplest of ways!