Russellings of the Spirit

Singing vs. Softball

Just as one of my favorite “s” seasons comes to an end, another favorite “s” season begins.

And no… I am not talking about spring and summer.

I am referring here to singing season (the one just concluding) and softball season… the one just now cranking up. 

You may or may not know this about me, but I absolutely LOVE to sing. I’m not saying I am a great singer. But I’ve been generously described as “not bad” by one independent reviewer. 

[OK. Not “independent” at all. It was my wife, Joan. She’s the one who said that. OK?]

In the winter and spring seasons I sing with three different groups. The Loveland Choral Society, also with our church’s seasonal choir, and finally with the Lutheran Men of Song. There is something incredibly soul-satisfying about the act of singing… especially in a group. It vibrates the heart strings. It is a community effort that bonds me with the singers around me. Each new piece of music is a challenge presented, a challenge accepted, and – if all goes well – a challenge MET! Not to mention the amazing feedback you receive from an appreciative audience when you perform the music you’ve been working on.

As you can tell, singing is a thing I HIGHLY recommend. Whether you read music or not.

Then there is softball. Softball, believe it or not, offers similar payoffs to singing. I play on – and manage – a team here in Fort Collins, CO called the Battitudes. Clever, eh? 

We are a team made up mostly of old folks like me with a few young whippersnappers thrown in for good measure. We play in the local Parks and Rec league against teams of 20- and 30-year-olds and regularly get our butts whipped. BUT we have a lot of fun in the process. Like singing, softball involves practice and person-to-person bonding and community building. Also, like singing, there is great joy regularly mingled with great sadness. 

All that pretext leads to the posing of this deep, philosophical question: is life more of a metaphor for SINGING? Or is it more accurate to liken life to SOFTBALL? 

Life – just like singing and softball – offers us challenges. Life also is enhanced when shared with others in community. And even though I absolutely SWOON for the harmonic blending of voices in a disciplined, well-rehearsed choir, I sincerely hope that life is a whole lot more like SOFTBALL than singing.

Why, you ask, in your relentless pursuit of truth.

Because (I answer) singing demands PRECISION. An eighth note is EXACTLY a half beat. Not ¾ of a beat or ¼. An E minor note is exactly that. An E minor. Stray even a teeny, weeny bit up or down the scale from that precise spot and you have spoiled the whole thing. 

Singing is beautiful because of that precision. That blend of voices tickles the ears of the angels when done exactly, precisely as the composer intended.

SOFTBALL (or its cousin baseball, for that matter) allows for mistakes. A hitter who fails to get a hit two out of three times is considered a PHENOM! Drop a routine pop-up, throw to the wrong base, slip and fall on your way to score, and it’s, “HEY! Don’t worry! We’ve got you! You’ll get it next time. And if not, we’ll go out for some adult beverages after the game and enjoy a good laugh.”

Forgiveness abounds in softball. It’s where we win as a TEAM or lose as a TEAM. But hit ONE WRONG NOTE in a four-minute aria and that will be the only thing people remember. Might as well fold up your tux jacket and hit the showers. 

I will be eternally grateful that I have landed on God’s softball team and not in God’s choir. I have screwed up enough times in this life to fill an entire blooper reel on my own. And yet, every time I do… every time I mis-speak, every time I pratfall, every time I lash out angrily and hurt a friend or make a stupid decision… I hear God’s voice speaking through the author of the 65th Psalm, reminding me that, “… When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions.” (Psalm 65:3, NRSVU). 

Do I always deserve forgiveness? Absolutely not. But I can rest assured as a child of the God of Abundant Grace and Mercy that it is extended to me without condition or reservation… 

Every

Single

Time

… Even when I start singing a half beat before anyone else in the choir.

Abundant blessings;

revruss1220 Avatar

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revruss1220
I am a retired United Methodist pastor, father, grandfather, stumbler, seeker, and servant.
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5 responses to “Singing vs. Softball”

  1. Mike U. Avatar
    Mike U.

    I never could sing (even before I became deaf, I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket), but my first love has always been baseball. My high school didn’t have a baseball program so I never got to pursue it. I played men’s league fast/slow pitch for several years after high school, as well as church league co-ed softball. Loved playing shortstop and third base. It’s been so long now since I last played (summer of ’95). I also coached youth baseball (Babe Ruth, AABC) in Dove Creek. CO for six years. Lots of fun. I miss it. Glad to know you’re on a team. It’s an amazing experience to play ball–it’s a microcosm of life, with many important life lessons to be learned along the way. 😊⚾🧢

    Reply
  2. K.L. Hale Avatar
    K.L. Hale

    Oh Russell, I had to jump on here, my friend, when I saw your name! Two of my favorite S seasons, too!
    I didn’t know you liked to sing (and your wife, I’m certain, isn’t your only fan!). Did you know I grew up singing AND playing softball?
    The name of the team is perfect!
    ***My dad played fast pitch and is in the Missouri Hall of Fame. I played fast pitch up through high school and then, slow pitch through my 30’s. We all grew up singing around the piano.***
    Enjoy every season you have, Russell!
    Currently, I’m in a season of changes. New chemo, a trip to the ER, tests this week, lots of side effects–AND the good news–family coming tomorrow for a bit while we celebrate so much. I’m thankful no matter what! God is so good! I’m not here often, but I hold you in my prayers and thoughts! Blessings to you and yours!!

    Reply
    1. revruss1220 Avatar
      revruss1220

      So good to hear from you, Karla! Yours is a voice that never fails to bring joy and inspiration. I’m afraid I have not been very regular lately in either writing blog posts or reading them either. I am sorry to hear about the new health challenges you are facing, but I know you are facing them with BOTH flannel and faith. God is abundantly good in all circumstances. But you already knew that. It is so cool that you have a background in both singing and softball. For most people it is ALWAYS singing season, whether with a formal group or not. You are certainly one of those people! Keep singing!

      Reply
      1. K.L. Hale Avatar
        K.L. Hale

        Aw, thank you, Russell. I always appreciate your encouraging words! It’s a blessing to read yours!
        My son that lives in Kansas City (Liberty) is on his way here today. We will celebrate his daughter’s 5th bday. Today my parents celebrate their 61st anniversary!
        I’ll admit, this new treatment is brutal. But God’s strength gets me through. I’ll keep singing and I know you will too!
        Play ball! 🎶🎶🙏🏻 I had to end with that? lol

  3. peachimpossiblyf879c9a4df Avatar
    peachimpossiblyf879c9a4df

    Good stuff, Russell! I LOVED this one. I’ve often considered what music, tones that soothed kings and restless babies for centuries, was like before some control freak decided to, like we often do with other beautiful spiritual experiences, write down every single note, pace and crescendo so that they could be duplicated, not only ruining the serendipity of impromptu creativity, but akin giving in to the fear of trusting in the Spirit, by our recording and attempting to imitate or replay a working of the Spirit, whose activity comes from and goes toward we know not nor need to know which direction.

    After years of worrying about it, I have long been one to ignore the score in a ball game and to just focus on the next play, to be part of making it the best I can. Perhaps things like ball game scores are like musical scores: They control our emotions rather than letting them be naturally and relaxingly released for a purpose only known to the Spirit, causing us to perform someone else’s idea of success rather than letting each moment play its own note and letting each play of the ball game dictate our direction and not the fear of being incorrect in pitch, rhythm or of losing a game.

    Of the moments I’ve had growing up in a musical family and being in music, like you, most of my life, I like it all, but my favorite moments in music have been when a bunch of us are instrumentally and/or vocally jamming together, listening to each other’s renditions and letting ourselves follow that and make our own offerings in the same moment of community, resembling the unpredictable, unwritten, unknown activity of the Spirit among the Body, one of beauty and purpose that neither has nor needs known direction nor origin, yet accomplishes a will aimed at nothing but our best interests.

    A long-term shortstop, when I began ignoring the score, I felt free to just play the game, to make the ball my opponent and the other team the facilitator of spontaneous, unpredictable challenges toward which to apply the fun of a surprising moment. Sure, making an “unassisted” double play that wins a game is a lot of fun, but it’s the double play, not the win that is the true joy and the community steps in and quenches the lie of anything unassisted when, as the ball comes from the bat to me, a team member yells, “tag second” and the throw to first base is snagged in time by a first base person who nearly pulls a groin muscle reaching for a ball thrown poorly after this shortstop stumbles over the touched second base…. and our team and their team and the crowd, laughs our hearts into better spiritual and emotional health. Sorry about the wordiness, but your catcher signals really got me wound up like an impromptu baseball pitcher with this one! Thanks.

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