Distractions

The other day, I got an invitation on facebook to join a group called, “Baseball Is a Religion”. Now, I don't think the group meant it literally. It's just intended as a clever name. Still, it got me thinking.

I know baseball is not a religion. Religions have to do with God. The reason this got me thinking, though, is that while my religious faith is an important part of my life, it's not the only thing that's important to me. Lots of things are important to me. My wife is important to me. My family is important to me. My friends are important to me. The churches of this parish are important to me. The communities in which those churches are located are important to me. Music is important to me. Laughing and enjoying a good joke are important to me. And, as you know, baseball is important to me.

Now, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that. I don't think God demands that our religious faith be the only thing in our lives. God gave us things like spouses and families and friends and churches and communities and music and laughter and sports so we could enjoy them. I don't think God minds that we do enjoy them. I think that's what we're supposed to do.

I do think, though, that we need to be careful sometimes. I know I do. God does not demand that our religious faith be the only thing in our lives, but God does want it to be the most important thing in our lives. We know that, but it can be easy to get distracted. It can be easy to give other things more importance than we should, especially when those things are things you really enjoy. I could watch ball games all day long and not get tired of it—but it would not be a good thing for me to do. The same goes for music or laughter or anything else. There's nothing wrong with enjoying them, but we need to keep them in their proper place.

That's true of the other things I mentioned, too. It's good to do things for the community—but it's not as important as our faith in God. It's good to do things for and with our friends—but it's not as important as our faith in God. Even our spouses and our families are not as important as our faith in God.

Obviously, it's possible to serve God while serving our spouses and families and communities. I think that God even uses my sports fandom in ways that serve God. The point is that we need to keep our priorities in order. We need to make sure we know what our focus is. We need to make sure the things we do are serving God, not distracting us from serving God.

I love baseball, but baseball is not a religion. I'll continue to watch baseball when I can. But I hope my focus always remains on God.