Friday,
March 19, 2021
Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” 1 Kings 3:9
God had
promised Solomon a request. The newly
ascended king prayed for an understanding heart so he
could govern in a way God would approve, and would be a blessing to the people. God was pleased. There is nothing better than power used
correctly in Heaven’s eyes.
The
difficulties associated with a heart mis-understanding are
legion. My grandmother, a sweet, and
normally tender-hearted person, is an example.
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Back at
the ballfield, Marlen was the pitcher, and Elwood the catcher. Uncle Marlen’s Mom, Carrie, didn’t attend
ball games, except for one time; it was the time signals got mixed and
misunderstanding happened. Here’s how.
In
between innings, when teams switch from offense to defense, the pitcher will
normally take some practice-throws to warm-up his arm before facing the first
batter. When he makes his last throw, he
will step to one side while the catcher throws the ball to second base. The ball will then be thrown around the
infield as something of a ritual. On
that last pitch it was Uncle Marlen’s habit to step to the left side of the
pitcher’s mound, and Daddy Elwood, the catcher, would throw the ball to second
base slightly to the right. Pitcher
steps left (always); catcher throws right (habit). Step left, throw right.
One day
Grandma Carrie came to watch her son, Marlen, pitch. At the beginning of an inning Uncle Marlen
began his warm-up pitches. After several
tosses he nodded to Daddy Elwood that the next would be the last, and the ritual
would begin, pitch…step left…catcher throws right. Only this time Marlen stepped right, and
Elwood, a creature of habit, fired the ball…also right,
and right into the middle of my Uncle Marlen’s back. It is Brownworth family lore that there were
two screams that broke the air in that strange moment….Marlen’s scream of surprise
pain, and Grandma Carrie’s oath that Elwood must die!
It was
probably more than 25 years later I first heard that story (and I’m certain it
grew more colorful each time it was retold, both before and since). But Dad’s punch line to telling that story
was always consistent, that Grandma Carrie never really forgave him for
assaulting her sweet, innocent baby boy.
We
always laughed about it. It’s easy to do
that in the comfortable seat of time having passed, along with pain long ago
healed. But, in real time, it was
something of a discomfort for Elwood, who was at a distinct disadvantage after
that fateful baseball day, trying to court Marlen’s older sister, Cecilia. My brother and I are living proof that he was
successful, despite Grandma Carrie’s conspiracy theory that that boy
was plotting murder on the family.
A
lesson I learned from this little bit of family history is that
misunderstandings happen because of many reasons, but often there are two
culprits that regularly are present in the mayhem. The first is poor communication. In the case of Uncle Marlen and Daddy Elwood,
step-left, throw-right was the habit.
The failure in communication was, depending on which side of the family
tells the story, the pitcher, or the catcher.
Marlen didn’t tell Elwood he was going to step right. Elwood assumed it would
be left…he just threw where he always threw.
The second culprit is Grandma Carrie’s jumping to conviction. When the ball game ritual “went ugly”, her
immediate judgment was mama lion-like. Nobody was going to do that to her son!
For You Today
Politics, family, church things, and friends…hold off
on the judgment…someday it might just be you stepping right instead of left
[1] Title Image: Brownworth Family photo Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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