Baseball Fields & The Sower (Bot9 #319)

Baseball is a nearly perfect game. The geometry, the setting, the individual elements, the team components. The chaos and the order. It’s such a tremendous representation of so many things. But there was something I hadn’t noticed until taking my team to Arizona this past week - every field I’ve ever seen has the four soils represented in the Parable of the Sower.

We all walk on a footpath to get to the field. It’s flat, usually cement, and there is no chance anything can grow there. Scatter seed there and the birds will fly down, eat it, and fly away. There’s no opportunity for the message to be heard when one’s heart resembles the footpath.

No doubt that around the field somewhere, usually near or around the footpath outside the field, there are thorns and weeds. Maybe they’re breaking through the pavement of an older parking lot, or in an area outside the park that has been poorly tended through the years, but there’s no doubt we can find weeds. It’s here where the cares and riches of this life choke out the message so it never grows to maturity.

Before hitting the grass of the field, you’ll touch some rocky soil in the form of the warning track. There is a contrast in the surface here between the rock and the grass so a player will know when they’re approaching the fence protecting them from the footpath and weeds outside of the field. But nothing grows with any depth in the rocky soil. The message is heard, it’s received with joy, but it falls away when temptation is faced.

And then we reach the fertile soil of the field. It’s here where we experience the joy of this most beautiful game. It’s where we experience transcendent moments and the community of the team. It’s here where the harvest occurs over time. It’s the picture of heaven and perfection.

During the journey of life, we’ll find ourselves in all of these places at different times. May we all find our way on to the diamond on a daily basis.