Writers In The Storm

Every year when baseball season begins my son’s coaches focus on fundamentals-basic skills in fielding, batting, pitching, base-running, and other baseball essentials. Throughout the season, they continue to drill the fundamentals in regular practices. My kids’ piano teacher emphasizes scales, technique, and regular, disciplined practice. As a teacher, I encourage daily studying rather than waiting to the last minute to cram for a test. At least the kids listen to two out of three.

It’s the same in other areas of life. When we practice the fundamentals in daily living, we have a reserve to fall back on when we encounter the “big leagues,” the high-pressure moments that threaten to un-do us. Those moments when we don’t have the luxury to think, to ponder, to analyze, to work through a number of scenarios, to brainstorm… when we need an instant response, and we need it to be right. That’s when all the practice pays off.

Luke touched on this principle-He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. When we learn to live with integrity when no one’s looking, we’ll make the right choices in different moments on a larger stage. Paying attention to the details that matter to God reaps a benefit beyond the scope of small things.

We learn to live in those “little” moments by sticking to the basics of our faith-trusting and obeying God, saying “no” to wrong choices, sitting quietly in His presence. Listening for His voice as we read His word. Believing in His goodness. Taking our questions to Him. Giving Him our messes with all the accompanying emotions, fears, and anxieties. Expressing gratitude for Who He is and thanking Him for all He does. The “little” everyday moments of Christian living.

Getting back to the basics of practicing Christian disciplines on a daily basis prepares us for the bigger moments of life. Figuring out how to struggle well in everyday issues makes it easier to battle in the hard times. If we’ve practiced the basics in low-pressure moments, those fundamentals will carry us in the heat of the game.

I routinely read websites across a spectrum of topics-politics, finance, writing, religion. Many encourage readers to leave comments, which in a perfect world might be an interesting addendum, but increasingly these forums degenerate into an electronic food fight. The verbal “flipping off” of another with an opposing opinion is common.

These same people might be more restrained were they to share a line at the grocery store. Or not. But the anonymity of the situation tends to encourage profanity. As a Christian, as an American, as a human, it leaves me sad. Or mad.

Reading a post that assails my core beliefs in a less than decorous manner makes me mad. Reading a post that upholds my core beliefs in a similar manner makes me mad, sad, and embarrassed.

Christian beliefs are going to offend, according to Jesus. Any sneer I add to the mix dilutes the sacrifice He made. It calls attention to me. Before I was a believer, I held some of the same notions as the most vitriolic of critics. Offering an opinion to the world ought to bring light to a topic, not another case of blatant hypocrisy.

Went I engage in an issue of profound consequence, I need to let Jesus speak through me, or spare the effort. No one “won” me over to Jesus by condemnation. It took an individual witness. A formerly angry, bitter, and, well, (sorry, Sis) kinda-mean human being changed into a genuinely loving, concerned, honest person. Whatever she had, I wanted that.

So I quit reading the comments on websites. I think Satan uses them to keep me on the ropes. I can let my knickers get so twisted with the bile of an individual that I lose sight that there is a human behind that keyboard. I act from a place of anger and weakness, not love. I don’t know what kind of life that person lived. I do know, without God’s grace, those nasty, hate-filled words could have been mine.