Batter up!

"show me where I have been wrong"

Job 6:24

Interesting article in Sports Illustrated recently, about the Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutcheon.  McCutcheon is a great hitter, but the article was about when he wasn't a great hitter.  That is to say, it's about when he was slumping. 

A slump is a tricky thing for an athlete, and I think especially for baseball players, and even more especially, for hitters.  Bringing a stick into contact with a 90 mph baseball is arguably one of the hardest thing to do in sports.  The best of them only succeed only about 30% of the time.  So when a successful hitter suddenly becomes an unsuccessful hitter, even temporarily, it can be frustrating.  The athlete often works with coaches and gets advice from fellow athletes to solve the problem, or fix errors in their approach to hitting.

So when Andrew McCutcheon was going through a slump, one of the hitting coaches came to him to help.  There were some errors in the way McCutcheon was swinging, and by correcting those errors, he got back into his groove. 

This coach had noticed the errors in McCutcheon's a year and a half before, but had said nothing.  Why?  Because McCutcheon was hitting well.  He wouldn't have listened.  He wouldn't have seen a need to make any changes.  Said another hitting coach, "there is one truism about getting a young player to listen to coaching:  He's got to believe there's a problem." 

Boy, ain't that the truth.  And it's not just true of young hitters.  It's true of most of us.  It's very difficult to convince someone to do something different, if what we're doing seems to be working just fine.  You know the old line:  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The hard part is that we don't always know if it's "broke" or not.   In McCutcheon's case, his energy and talent were carrying him far, though his mechanics were working against him.  But if he didn't realize there were errors in his swing, did he think that it was part of his success?  Did he think his weakness was a strength?

It's a mistake any of us could make: giving credit for our success to attributes in our character that are really weaknesses.  Here's a truth:  just because it's working, doesn't mean it ain't broke.

The smart thing for a young Andrew McCutcheon, would have been to realize that he had a lot to learn, and show himself eager to be taught.  Maybe he never would have even had the slump if he'd allowed that hitting coach to show him what he could be doing better.

So, are you teachable?   Maybe the best way to be teachable is to ask.  Ask your employer for feedback.  Ask your spouse how you could better show love.  And most importantly, ask God.  Confess what you see in yourself, and be in His Word.   He'll show you something you need to work on.  Maybe several somethings.  But often only one.  I think He's gentle enough to not overwhelm us with all our flaws, but guide us toward improvement in one area at a time. 

He can certainly orchestrate events in our lives to guide us toward change, if that's what we need.

But it's better if we ask.

~ "Teach me what I do not see" ~

Job 34:32