Last weekend my son Mark (12 yrs.) and I went over to Kirkwood park to play baseball. We play all the time in our backyard, but everybody knows it’s WAY more fun to play on an ACTUAL baseball field! I am the pitcher and he is the hitter. For those of you who don’t know, my son Mark suffered a head injury and a stroke when he was almost two, so he has a weak left side and he bats one handed. The motion of his swing is normal, he just uses one hand! He’s pretty DANG good too!
So there we were having a grand old time when another boy came around who looked to be about 5 or 6 who was also having a grand old time with his Pop Pop throwing a football around. I noticed him watching Mark from afar, then he came over, sat on the bench and watched him closer. His Pop Pop called to him, ” Come on over and play!” thinking he was bothering us.
The boy called out, ” I want to watch this kid bat!” Then he said to me, “Is he a handicap?”
I grinned and said, “Yes he is.” He just sat and watched some more. Mark appreciated the attention and continued knocking balls around. Mark asked him if he wanted to hit some.
“Pop Pop, can I play with them?” He batted a few balls I pitched to him and he was very coordinated and hitting the ball hard! Then he did something that I loved! He started hitting one handed! It was just one of those moments for me! This boy was appreciating Mark with his “differences” and seeing what it was like. Mark was enjoying watching him “hit it out of the park!” Each boy was enjoying the other and mom was just grinning inside from ear to ear! God wants us to be JUST like that! Accepting each other with all of our differences and “playing nice” together.
Colossians 3:12
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, KINDNESS, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Jean
