Photo was taken by photographer Christopher Horner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. I snatched it off the internet somewhere.
It's a pretty crazy picture of a father blocking his son's face from an errant bat at a baseball game. One of the first things that caught my attention in this picture is that the kid was fiddling with his cell phone and presumably, had been looking down at the phone while the bat was coming his way. My first thought? "Tsk tsk...look at that kid...he's at a baseball game and he just wants to play games on his phone. That's what's wrong with kids these days."
Then I saw this interview with the father and son and learned more of the story. Turns out, this kid loves baseball, this was his birthday, and he was so excited to be at his first baseball game ever with his dad that he had just snapped a picture of the game, and was sending that picture to his mom. Not doodling around aimlessly on his phone, but sharing his love of the game with his mom. (Also, sidebar, that dad is awesome. In his interview he said he just went into "dad mode", but I think it's a great example of the way a man is called to serve and protect his family.)
Hearing this entire story gave me pause as I considered my initial reaction. We hear so much these days about how all of us - and the younger generation more and more - are glued to their phones, and how this inhibits their ability to engage in everyday social interactions. We see this as a problem in our society (and I agree that it is), and so perhaps we (I) blame the people on the other end of the phone for not being able to put it down.
So I had this huge, negative assumption about this kid. And I was totally wrong. Why was my first assumption negative?
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
What is in my heart that caused my first thought, my first assumption to be negative? I know it wasn't necessarily evil, but it also wasn't kind. Why didn't I initially assume the best about this kid?
Maybe I could blame it on all the vitriol that's being bandied about lately with the elections and that impact this has had on my thinking. Maybe it's my own dissatisfaction with things in my own life. Or, maybe just my own sin nature. Yeah, I think that's more like it.
I don't like myself when my first assumption about someone is negative. I want to assume the best about people. Yes, people can be broken and messy and mean and hurtful and greedy. But don't we all have some shortcomings? Aren't we all sinners created in the image of God, in need of a Savior?
Christ did not have to assume the best about any of us. He knew the worst about us all, but that did not diminish his love for us. In fact, it was that knowledge that drove him to the cross for my sins, and yours.
That guy in the picture? He's a good father who obviously loves his son. I'm thankful that I have an even better Father who loves me even more than I could ever imagine.
And...what would our world be like if we spent a little more time assuming the best about people, instead of assuming the worst?
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