Learning a new spiritual practice during spring training?

Ok, truth be told, I love the Seattle Mariners, but that’s not why Cyndy and I try to go to Peoria, Arizona every 3 years. Actually, I think Cyndy does go to see Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley! She has a bit of a crush on them, to be honest. But I go to spring training for one reason…to bask in the sun! It is so wonderful to just sit on the grass at a spring training game and soak in something Seattle is missing 9 months of the year: sun!

And in some senses that is a spiritual practice: learning to bask in the grace of our good God!

But that is a practice I have known and remembered since I was 6 and sitting on the back steps of the parsonage in White Lake, SD on the first day of summer realizing I didnt have school for 3 whole months! I’ve known that practice for a while!

But this year at spring training I learned a new spiritual practice and I learned it from one of the Seattle Mariner’s top pitching prospects:

Brandyn Garcia! In an interview Cyndy and I were listening to he was asked how he has learned to deal with failure as a baseball player. After all baseball is a sport that has more to do with failure than most. The best hitters, for example, fail 67 percent of the time!

Brandyn Garcia’s response had me rethinking my routine. He said that early on in his minor league career he almost quit. He would have a bad outing and it would just weigh on him all night long. He wouldn’t sleep. He’d toss and turn all night long replaying that one bad pitch. Obsessing over what he could have done differently. (Sound familiar?) And after a while all those mistakes started to pile up. It was just too much to carry!

And then it came to him. He had to find some way, some practice, that helped him to leave that game, that one bad pitch, at the clubhouse.

So what helped him leave it there at the clubhouse? Brandon’s secret was to turn his shower into a spiritual practice. For him the shower became a way to let all that failure wash away. It was a way to just let go of all those bad pitches. He would step into that shower after a bad outing and just let the water do the work! Brandon turned that after-game shower into a spiritual practice! Once he walked out of that shower he was able to go home and start the morning fresh. It was a new day!

He added that sometimes that shower lasted an hour! But in the end, if that’s what it takes, it was worth it!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes words or mistakes cling to me! I often find myself carry them around for years! And my guess is that I'm not alone! Maybe it’s time to change up our shower routine! Wouldn’t it be great to just let God’s grace wash us clean? Wouldn’t it be great to wake up refreshed and ready for a “new day”?

Thanks Brandon!

Thanks God!

Your friend and pastor, switching up his spring training rituals, Brook