Reflections From the Past

Do It Again - 2005

In today’s service we are looking at the benefit available, the nourishment available to our spirits, through living more intentionally in the so called routine moments of our lives and in playing the role of author or designer of the moments that we put into our lives and elevate to the status of regular or repeat moments, moments we can call rituals.

And I’m reminded of how important it is for us to be good designers, good authors of the regular behaviors that we introduce into our lives. I remember hearing some time ago about a baseball player who had a ritual that he designed and introduced into his life and religiously observed; a ritual of never stepping on the white lines that marked the baselines on both sides of the field. As he ran onto the field of play he would make sure that his stride always made it possible for him to avoid stepping on the line. As time went on this ritual grew to require that he also not step on the line while the ball was in play. Because he played third base, this became a ritual that required a considerable amount of talent. And as the story goes, the ritual continued to grow so that not only did it require that he not step on the baseline but also that he turn a circle in the air as he crossed the baseline. So as he ran onto the field to start each inning he would jump across the baseline and as he did he would turn a full circle in the air. He also observed this requirement to rotate as he crossed the line when he was going after a foul ball. Supposedly he came to be quite adept at all of this but eventually the ever increasing demands of his ritual made it impossible for him to perform his job as a ball player.
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