Baseball and being "Intentional"

One of the few downsides of being a Southerner and marrying a girl from “way up North” is that our extended families are *really* far apart. Kelly’s from Michigan, and most of her family is still there (the main exception being her sister, Jennifer, who migrated South like the rest of us normal folks …)

We try and make at least one or two pilgrimages to the north each year, and we started several years ago sending the kids up for a week or two during the summer to spend with “Poppa” (Kelly’s dad, Bill.) This year, William – our 9-year old – went for two weeks. Those that know Will know that he LOVES baseball (and every other sport imaginable), and Traverse City, MI affords him the opportunity to see a pretty good minor league team, the Beach Bums.

This year, Will came home with *5* baseballs (and an assortment of tiny bats, pennants and shirts) from the ballpark. When I asked him where he got them, he replied “I caught some, and then I went looking for more and found some and then I gave some away… And somebody gave me one, too.” In the end, he had more than he could carry! When I asked him why he gave some away, he said “…because some of the kids didn’t have any.”

Now, on the surface, I’ve got to admit – my FIRST thought was how proud I was of Will for being willing to give away his baseballs. (I’m always impressed (and, quite frankly, amazed) when he exhibits positive character traits, like sharing, when he has such trouble doing so at home with his brother, Robert!)

So what does this have do with “being intentional?” We don’t get the best results when we sit back and wait for things to come our way. Sometimes, things will drop into our lap (remember Will’s first couple of balls?) He got much better results when he went out and intentionally looked for opportunities to find more balls. He found some. Someone gave him one. In the end, he had all he could carry. He ended up with far more than he started with and, more importantly, he found great satisfaction in giving some away.