Marriage T-Ball

Its softball season (yeah)! This time of year brings fond memories of the first time Alex & I met each other on the softball field. Softball is our favorite activity in which we both equally enjoy playing and exceed well at. We collaborate well and have a lot of fun on the field, but how do we have the same experience in our marriage?

We're 11 months into marriage now (such rookies, right?) and its like we're picking up a ball for the first time. Its foreign and unfamiliar territory. As we're in the t-ball phase, I've noticed a lot of relevancy of how the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is actively coaching us through our marriage fundamentals.

THE COACHES:
God the Father - the Father is the General Manager who sees all, knows all, and wants the best for his team. The Father owns the vision and has Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help execute and communicate the plan. The Hopwoods can try to play according to the guidelines but in order to win in the end we rely in faith, hoping that we succeed according to God's plan. Without the Father's support, love, guidance and direction we're simply a couple amateurs still in t-ball.

Jesus Christ - Jesus is the Head Coach who submits under the General Manager. He can often times be the translator between the Father and us as players, so that we fully comprehend the Father's training, vision and intentions. Jesus is the experienced coach who understands when we make an error, lose our temper and have to patiently wait on the bench. When the Hopwood duo doesn't know what pitch to throw next, its Jesus who makes the decision for the right direction of the game. Alex & I like to celebrate in the end when we get to pour a Gatorade of praises on our Head Coach.

Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit is the Assistant Coach who encourages and roots for us through the good and the bad. When the Hopwood team is down and behind, it is the Spirit who changes the momentum & motivation - from hot-head frustration to a loving hug of success after the competition.

Although I often forget that I'm on the same team as Alex and also fail to know whether we're playing offense or defense; we are both learning some key fundamentals of success.

THE FUNDAMENTALS (P.A.T.S.):
Patience & Perseverance - whether we win or lose during the season, we both agree to fight the good fight until its over...all the way to old-age retirement. I wanted the happy, vanilla, fresh & pristine marriage out of the box, but with such high expectations and only 11 months new, it requires some hard work and a lot of practice. Fight to the end with patience and perseverance.

Attitudes - the honeymoon was great, but it's game time. Whether we lost our swing or conquered an opponent, we try to learn from our coaches the elements of having the right attitude. Often times in competition or at war with evil, we need an attitude check in understanding the importance of being selfless and practicing humility. This attitude check of humbleness not only makes it easier to have fun but also to serve, lead, and love one another without grumbling.

Teamwork - we'll have our exciting & successful highs where we unconditionally love and support one another. We've also had our share of the brutally challenging lows of nagging and arguments as well. This means that each player need to be flexible, collaborate and trust one another in order to learn and grow TOGETHER as one cohesive team.

Studying strengths/weaknesses - a good pitcher/catcher duo is a pair who knows each others thoughts for the next pitch in any given scenario (i.e. batter, outs, base runners, etc.). The key to understanding teammates involves observation and a lot of communication. Although I don't know all of Alex's best pitches, it has been fun testing them out and talking them through on the mound. From what I see has a lot of potential and I can respect his consistency.

We each bring different skills and talents to the field. As newlyweds, there have been occassions where I have ran in the wrong direction or failed to contribute to the team success; but after each event its been a joy to celebrate with our juice boxes for the love of the game. There is opportunity to refine our skills to be an even stronger team, but for now we're young rookies who have really enjoyed playing t-ball.