An error-free softball or baseball game is a thing of beauty unmatched anywhere in God’s creation.

Why?

Because we are humans. We specialize in making errors.

A cleanly played game in any sport should be praised and admired for the feat that it is, but especially in baseball or softball. The skill needed to correctly and accurately throw and catch the ball is akin to manning air traffic control at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the great ATL, one of the busiest airports in the world. 

Thank goodness the ball is not a plane with little creatures from Horton Hears a Who catching a ride to the dandelions in the outfield. It’s a good thing their lives are not depending on how well the ball is caught or thrown.

But I would like to see a graphic depicting the flight patterns of a softball or baseball game, with criss-crossed lines for throws and hits, just like a flight tracker.

The path from pitcher to catcher and back again would be bold, worn like a groove, with slight aberrations in flight path depending on the placement of the pitcher’s throw and the catcher’s ability to “be a wall,” as we say. But if the ball gets past the catcher, it can ricochet wildly off the backstop, creating opportunities for the batting team to steal bases and score.

But in our error-free game, there would be beautifully curved lines on our flight tracker, colored either the bright neon yellow of a softball, or the clean, crisp blue-white of a brand new, unmarred baseball. We would see solid hits to center field that would be caught for an out and then thrown to third base to stop the runner on second from advancing. We would see line drives down the left field baseline that travel all the way to the fence, but the left fielder is a hustler; the ball is quickly recovered and thrown to the shortstop, who gets it to the catcher, who tags the runner sliding into home for a dramatic out to end the inning.

Can you see those lines? They are like the smooth, even stitching on the ball itself, holding the game together.

But add a bobble, a drop, or a miss, and soon our exquisite lines become an unraveled, tangled mess, complete with frustrated coaches, screaming parents, and upset players.

Unless you’re the other team, who is taking advantage of the opportunity by rounding third base and heading for home.

And when you make an error, how do you respond? Do you blame it on the other players, on the dampness of the field, on your cold fingers, or on the heat of the afternoon?

Consider outfielder Robbie Grossman’s response, when his errorless streak ended after going 440 games, the longest in MLB history, when it appeared that he lost a ball in the glare of the sun: “Just a popup, and I missed it . . . I’m not going to make any excuses. It’s a play that has to be made, and I’ll make it the next time.”

If we could learn to respond in the same way, we’d all be better off.

Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes, most of them with much greater consequences than a bobbled ball in the outfield. 

It’s easy to blame our friends, our family, and our co-workers, when really, we need to be pointing our fingers at the face in the mirror. We’re in such a habit of looking to fault everyone else that we don’t even realize that the error is our own.

The next time you know you’ve messed up, get your dog or your cat and role play with them. It will make it easier to say the following words to your human counterparts:

“My bad.”

And sometimes, “I’m sorry.”

That’s all it takes, along with an attitude of humility and a resolve that you’re going to do better next time.

No excuses.

An error-free game is a beautiful thing. So is an error-free life, but we’ve already determined that it’s beyond us.

But it’s not beyond Him.

He’s also an excellent Coach, the very best you could ever have.

And the best part? He won’t yell at you when you make a mistake.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

II Corinthians 5:21 NIV