This...

...is a kid who was devastated when the baseball rosters were posted.

Heart. Broken.

I won't lie to you.  His parents were a little heartbroken too.

If he had moved up from last year, 

he would have had the opportunity of a lifetime this summer.

We thought he had a decent chance.

He moved down.

We prayed.  Before.  During.  After.

Does God really care about baseball anyway?

Personally, I think God adores baseball.

Mainly because it's the stuff little (and not so little) boys' dreams are made of.

Aren't there much, much bigger things to be heartbroken over?

Well now.  There's a question if ever there was one.  I must admit that I sometimes compare the magnitude of the struggles my children face to those faced by some families we know well, and think it is ridiculous that we could ever be sad.  But it doesn't change the fact that sometimes we are.

I have experienced a few heartbreaks that would be tragic by anyone's standard.  The sudden loss of my mom.  The deaths of a close friend and a close family member at their own hands.

But honestly?  Not one more real than the one my boy experienced this spring. More enduring, and more far-reaching, perhaps, but not more real.

In our prayers, we asked God to show him what the gift is in this team.  We prayed that he would be receptive and settle into the season that appeared to hold nothing he hoped for.

Last night was their first win.  Ben hit a home run.  (Kind of. The ball flew off his bat, and he rounded the bases and scored, so it has to count, right?)  He played catcher, an opportunity he had wanted for a long time, but not received.  He was awesome.  (Not just according to his mom.)  He is enjoying his team, and benefitting from coaches who know and appreciate him (whose sons also had roster heartbreaks).

The season is young, many chapters of the story yet to be written.

Same with my son.

Today I am so thankful he knows the Author of his story.

Because in the end?  It's not about who had which story.
It's all about the Author, who makes each of them brilliant.

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain;  faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthians 13:11-13