Back in the end of June, beginning of July, my son lost his baseball swing. Just lost it. He swung and missed or fouled off every pitch. Couldn’t hit it straight and couldn’t figure it out. Then one game, I saw the bat head drop meaning he was dropping his wrists through the strike zone. We talked about it over our July fourth vacation. Twelve hours on the road together gave us plenty of time to talk and reason through the mental side of it all. Then he got to work when we got home. I showed him what I saw he was doing. He picked up his bat in his room and began swinging.  He felt it in the batting cage and at the plate. He strengthened his wrist and forearm muscles as part of the solution.
It took another week, but the fouls balls started going forward. Then a single over third base and a hard hit ball up the middle. His confidence returned and with it the big knocks. A triple to the left field gap that hit the fence to lead off an inning was met with emphatic arms raised over his head saying thank you and a huge, resounding five from his third base coach. It got praise from his teammates who had been cheering him on during the slump. The next game, a double over the center fielder’s head that broke open a game. Now he’s off the snide and playing like he is capable.
Life is like that, we lose it all sometimes. Then we learn what we were doing and regroup and set about making the necessary changes. It takes some time but we re-establish ourselves, get the right hits and all those around us who have been pulling for us and cheering us on give us that standing O because of all the work. Most importantly, we raise our hands in gratitude because God is faithful and knows the plans he has for us.
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