This morning I heard about the new draft pick for the lowest ranked team in Major League Baseball, the Washington Nationals. I don't know much about sports, but apparently, they got the best pick of the season - 1st round pick or something like that. The funny thing was that though they are the lowest ranked team with 100 straight losses (whereas the Yankees have at least 9 players with $150 million dollar contracts and have won the world series at least 4 times in the last 10 or 15 years) they chose to put the highest ranked rookie of the season down into their junior team. You'd think they'd want to pull him into the Major League as soon as they got him. Not so in baseball. Baseball is a sport that you need time to play into. Apparently the fear is that if a high ranked rookie goes straight to the Majors, he could get eaten up and overwhelmed with the level of play and professional intensity. Though he has the talent, he does not have the maturity and needed experience to play in the Majors yet. The teams decision reflects their hard earned wisdom - that no matter how good a rookie is, he needs to play at a level that gives him an increased sense of confidence and experience before he's launched out into the big leagues. This matures him as well as giving him an honest appraisal of what he's got himself into. The concern in sending him into the malaise of the Big Leagues is that if its done to soon too fast, he won't last and a great career could come to a halting crash as a result. By starting the super star in a league below the Majors, he builds confidence, gets experience, and matures into a position and an ability that matches the intense environment of the Majors - thereby extending his life in the Majors as well as procuring a matured playing style that will give him success in the long run rather than in the short run.
Anxiety can take place in the lives of people going through this process and cause them to shortchange themselves and everyone else. This reminds me of the horses at Arlington Race Track. As they stand in the gate, ready to launch out, waiting for the gun to fire and the gate to fly open, they anticipate the launch. So much, though, has been put into their preparation for their first race. Many teenagers and young adults feel this same anticipation, this same longing to launch out into the world and make an impact. Many of us want responsibility before we are entrusted with the authority that comes with time or we want authority without fulfilling the responsibility that accompanies the authority. The time that is required to go through this process of waiting is difficult.
It has been said "Waiting is the hardest work of hope." -Smedes ( I believe ).
In the New Testament, Peter points out, "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
God cares about the anxiety involved in the process of waiting that we are going through. In due time we will be given the responsibility and authority to lead others into an ongoing and responsible encounter with God. We don't have to be "professional Christians" to do this, we simply need to pursue maturity in Christ and wait for God's timing. What do we do in the meantime - play in the juniors, practice in the off season, be submissive to those who are older and practice acts of humility ( that's what helps one to become humble, because we aren't naturally ). Whatever strengths you have as a leader will come out and benefit the people that you lead immensely. Whatever insecurities you have will come out and have the potential of harming the people that you lead, but they don't have to. In a forthcoming post, I will talk about how to deal with those insecurities. One of my insecurities is that my blog won't be read - so please come back.
Questions to ponder?
1. What happens to us when we short-change this process or are impatient?
2. Who are examples of people who waited for God's timing in life and in the Bible?
3. Who are examples of people who didn't wait for God's timing in life and in the Bible?
4. Have there been times in our lives when we didn't wait or did wait and what were the results?
5. What are some of our insecurities and how do we choose to cope with them? How do other have to cope with them?
6. What are some of our natural talents? How are we engaging and providing time and space for those talents to be matured and used.
My son Michael - a friend of yours I believe, directed me to your blog. Just wanted to encourage you. So true what you have written, in regards to the growing learning preparation stages of life before being thrust into the "big league". I have read some young writers in the past ten years who though stirring have written 'before their time'. The problem with a published work is that you can't take it back. I can almost guarantee you, if one writes with total abandon without holding back, without grace and sensitivity - but wanting to express the very passion of their soap box( the writings of youth ) one may say things that 10 or 20 years later they will wish they had never put into print. They will grow in their experiences to see that what they thought was true was not, thought was clever was pride, or knew to be true, was truth without grace - and in the end was simply wreckless & nasty. Paul advised Timothy I believe "not to lay hands on a man suddenly." All in His time.
ReplyDeleteAs we walk with God longer and longer his grace and mercy, his love and understanding, in fact his patience, kindness and tolerance ( which lead to repentance - Rom.2:4 ) make our hearts tender & attitudes less demanding of others. A good word you have written - I will be back to your blog again! Press on - and as they say, "Hurry up and wait." blessings
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great follow up. As a 31 year old, I get the sense that God keeps holding me back from launching out and doing what I want to do and the prep time keeps prolonging. It's a tough stage to wade through slowly.
I resonate with what you're saying a lot. It is tough for younger people to read what you've written for so many reasons and it seems that only God can keep us from our mistakes at times.
As I agree with you, I also want to kickback a bit. I believe that what we agree on is an aspect to consider. But I believe there are other aspects to consider. Reason being is that I've read plenty of seasoned men and women who have written things that they should have never written or the spoke too soon or spoke out of their arena of expertise and therefore fumbled. So, though age is an aspect that can't be ignored, sometimes the aged believe that it is age that disencumbers their need to patient, gracious and careful. Or they don't consider that, though they are wise, they may not be able to speak to every issue that comes up. They may not have had the wherewithal to begin with, etc...
Many younger people have been frustrated and confused when as we mature, we begin to realize that those who have gone before us stopped maturing in one area of their life that we have continued to mature in, and we end up surpassing them. Yet because of their age, they maintain dominance in that arena, not because they're qualified to lead or speak to that issue, but just because they were there first.
The ability of the young to ignore the wisdom of the aged is matched by the ability of the aged to ignore the maturing of the young.
So, in closing, (tongue in cheek) it seems it would be better to read a writer who admits he/she wrote wrongly in their youth than a writer who is unable, at whatever age, to admit he/she could write wrongly.
Thoughts?