The Way the Ball Bounces

I've been thinking a lot lately about the unpredictability of life. Perhaps this is because so much of my consulting career revolves around forecasting and anticipating probable risks and opportunities, and because that is so fundamentally difficult to do. Even more likely, it is because so much of what happens each day surprises me. Things bounce and curve in ways I simply didn't see coming, which is in itself neither good nor bad, just a bit unsettling.

This is the season of many sports - baseball, tennis, golf. And I've been talking to my old life coach, Scott, about spin, and how it plays in each. Spin seems to represent the dynamic of unpredictability. Picking up the rotation of the seams on a curve ball, in order to try to anticipate its movement. Adding topspin or sidespin to a serve, to keep the opponent a litle off-balance. Hitting a drive with just the right draw or fade, to suit the contour of the fairway, as well as the eye of the golfer. Artistry, creativity, and personal interpretation all play a free-form role in the application of and response to spin.

In every task, no matter how ritual or routine, there is an implicit need to see the spin, to recognize the unique foreshadowing of imminent movement. In every effort, there is opportunity - indeed, undeniable impulse - to add unique personality, to apply creative force, to influence the bounce, beyond initial impact. And it is precisely the unique individual creativity that each of us adds to our work - the spin we put on the ball - that makes things a bit less predictable (and a bit more challenging, and perhaps more fun) for the people around us. In a sense, each of us has this amazing opportunity to participate in the glorious unpredictability of creation, to pour new wine into new wineskins, to draw new pictures and write new songs, to spin the world around us in a slightly new and different way.

On the receiving end, we simply need to be ready, and watch closely. Rather than be thrown off-balance by things that don't go as planned, by events that unfold in unexpected ways, and by words and gestures that weren't in the script, we need to learn to expect the unexpected. We need to look for the rotation of the seams on the curveball, to prepare for the bad hop on the uneven ground, and most of all - if we can - to watch with childlike joy and fascination, as the crazy spinning balls bounce and dance.

Stay ready.

-- Brother Tom

His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. -- Lamentations 3:22-23