MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS: REBUILDING SEASON

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BY STEVE DUNN

Last Saturday I celebrated my 68^th birthday doing something that I really love.  I managed my first trip to Spring Training in almost 10 years.  Dianne and I journeyed to Lakeland FL to spend a week with friends Dennis and Ruth, who have recently retired to Lakeland.  Lakeland is the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers.

Those of you who have followed my blogs for very long know that I a diehard Detroit Tigers fan, the love of both the game and that team planted in my DNA while still a young boy.  The Tigers were hosting the Pirates, the favorite team of my friend Dennis.  The baseball “gods” favored me that day with a Tigers win and my friend Dennis was quite gracious about it.  In fact, he even had arranged for the announcer at Joker Marchant Stadium to wish me a happy birthday.


The joy of that day may be short-lived.  The Tigers are in the second of what may be several “rebuilding” years.  That’s baseballese for “a losing season”, maybe even a “big losing season.” Although Rod Gardenhire’s charges looked pretty good, I suspect there will be some disappointing days ahead in the next few months.

Rebuilding times are often tough to endure.  We have seasons of fruitfulness and success but as the world changes, we find that those changes have rendered us ineffective or out-of-touch.  Successful teams age.  New players come into the league.  Injuries happen and players lose their speed.  For teams to win they often have to stop, shed some old players, disengage from old tactics, and learn how to win in that new day.


In our faith life we can experience the same dynamic.  What used to inspire has lost its edge as we have lived more by habit than expectancy.  Distance from when we first believe has a way of tamping down the holy fire.  The insistence on holding on to past practice keeps us from exercising the faith that steps forward into a fruitful future.


As Christians we affirm the constancy of Christ.  “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”  But we also embrace the truth that “behold I am making all things news.” Psalm 30:5 tells us, “Weeping may come in the night, but joy comes in the morning.”  The grief and frustration of those times of rebuilding when we are anchored in faith will be bring joy in the morning.  Count on it.