Well, my beloved Cincinnati Reds blew it this week. They were leading the National League Central Division. They were two games ahead of those detestable St. Louis Cardinals (disclaimer — my husband told me to not call them “those detestable St. Louis Cardinals” as he said they may actually have a few fans out there somewhere, maybe even reading this. Surely not? LOL!!!). It was all set up to be the week the Reds blew open their lead and took a commanding lead, earned some respect from all of Major League Baseball and set themselves up for a glorious run at the pennant…all while on their home turf at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
Sometimes what should happen doesn’t.
It all started on Monday when the Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips made some rather pointed comments about the Cardinals to a retired sports writer. The writer quoted him in his widely-read blog (you know, sort of like this one! 
). Let’s just say what Brandon said, for the most part, I can’t repeat here. But it made for some crazy publicity. The cities of Cincinnati and St. Louis lit up with all the buzz. The next day, in the first inning when Phillips came up to bat for the first time, a good old-fashioned base-brawl ensued. Okay. I confess. I do love a good basebrawl.
However, in this case, for whatever reason, it took the wind right out of the Reds’ sails and they lost 3 straight games to the Cardinals, which knocked them out of first place and slid St. Louis (grrrrr) into first place. Not exactly the way my sports week (or, well, the Reds either) was supposed to go.
Okay, Kasey, you might say. This isn’t a sports blog.
You’re right, I say. But I do have a point. Sometimes it just takes a while to get there.
Have you ever heard any “trash talkin’” at your church? At any church? Maybe the language wasn’t quite so colorful as Brandon Phillips (or maybe it was!), but it was trash talkin’ nonetheless. Have you ever said anything you wouldn’t say straight to someone’s face? Or, in a more passive move, perhaps you haven’t actually said anything, but you know that you were particpating in it by listening as others did it?
In the workplace, and apparently now in baseball (!), there is a pretty low tolerance for such behavior. So, why would it be okay in God’s church? What good could possibly come of it?
As ministers’ wives, or women in general, we are faced daily with the challenge of setting the example to our friends, families and our church families. Did we ask for that role? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no, but nonetheless, I can assure you that someone somewhere is looking up to you, is looking to follow your lead.
I fail daily. Let me repeat – I fail daily. I tend to be more like Brandon Phillips when he’s expressing his opinion of the St. Louis Cardinals than the person I ought to be, than the person God wants me to be. But I shouldn’t give up. Like the famous line from the baseball movie, “There’s no cryin’ in baseball!”, there may be crying if we don’t behave like we should.
In all the finger-pointing around Cincinnati as to what caused the Reds to choke this week and lose those games after all the hubbub surrounding the comments and the brawl, it has been suggested that perhaps if the blogger hadn’t repeated what Brandon had said, none of this would have ever happened. Is that the case? Maybe. Maybe not. But I can tell you for sure that there have been plenty of times that some particular “stuff” would have died off if I’d kept my mouth closed.
*Sigh* I just have to keep on praying.
Secured by
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to…
Remember the old song? Well, I admit, it was out before my time, but I’ve sure heard it before. For some reason it fascinated me as a kid and I remember wailing it out quite a bit. I was raised around a lot of “oldies.”
I have a lot of parties…pity parties. My parties aren’t because my “Johnny” left with “Judy,” but I’m sure that would be a great reason to have a party and cry at it. But no, I tend to have my share of pity parties where I want to sing that song. Oftentimes, I’ll be the only invitee to my party, but there are also times where I want to make sure a lot of different people share in my “misery.”
What’s up with that? Do you ever have a pity party? Or am I alone in my pettiness? Help me out, here, friends!
I get tired. I’m tired right now! I’m pretty sure, after the past four weeks I’ve had that I’m probably pretty close to hitting a wall. When I splat against that wall, I’m going to have to take a break. It isn’t uncommon for me to run headlong for so long that I crash and burn. So, sure as the world, I know I’m heading at warp speed for that wall.
Add in a house that needs cleaning, kids that need momma’s attention, demands from other areas of my life, a husband who bears a lot of other peoples’ burdens, and a fairly sore knee and wrist (and isn’t that just another story in and of itself). and you have one Kasey who is pretty much destined to throwing a party for herself. Yes, ma’am (or sir)…engraved invitations for Kasey’s pity party should arrive in a mail box near you soon.
But in the larger scope of things, aren’t those “problems” small compared to others in the world? I heard briefly on the news about the guy who held some people hostage in the Discovery Channel building in Maryland today. He had problems. And the brief snippet I heard about the story talked about how there were children in a daycare in that building and how they managed to get those kids out and to a nearby McDonalds. As a momma, that caught my attention and I didn’t even have to stop to think about how I would have felt if I’d known my babies were in harm’s way like that even for a few minutes. Those mommas had problems.
I’m not saying that we don’t have awful, legitimate problems from time to time. We do! But amazingly, those are the ones we tend to weather. Or at least I do. It’s those smaller things that weigh me down and have a tendency to suck the life out of me. They wear me down and beat me down and make me feel sorry for myself.
I think sometimes we ought to consider who or what is getting us down and wearing us out the most. Are they things that are causing us to have pity parties and waste time fretting over things we shouldn’t be fretting over? If so, let’s call off the parties! Instead of letting ourselves have a good wallow, let’s straighten our spines and “walk it off,” as my dad has always advised (even when broken bones are involved, but, as I often say, that’s yet another story!). Let’s tear up the invitations, take down the streamers, and call off the parties. For once, we may feel better without them.
And, just for grins and giggles, here’s a clip of the song. Don’t forget, Judy gets her comeuppance later in “It’s Judy’s Turn to Cry.”
Oh, and one final word…GO REDS! No pity party about my Redlegs. They are 8 games over St. Louis right now! Zippity do dah!