My typical morning routine begins with a workout, followed by a shower, and then I sit down to eat breakfast. Either oatmeal or a smoothie. When I'm sitting there, I go through my emails and delete all the junk and read my dailies - The Skimm and Women's Daily Baseball Devotionals. If you haven't heard of the Skimm, you are missing out big time. They take the news and put it into terms that non-political people can understand!
The Women's Daily Baseball Devotionals are passages written by baseball players and coaches wives and family members. I found out about this through Betsy, the chapel leader we had last year at the Mudcats. I get an email in my inbox every morning and sometimes I read them and sometimes they are simply too long and I just skip that days.
Last week, I opened the email based simply on the subject of the email.
How Important is a Stake.
A stake in a company? A stake in the ground? I didn't know, but I wanted to find out. The first part of the email is always a passage from the bible. This particular email started with a passage that I have heard many times.
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man Genesis 2:18/22
The woman writing the article goes on to say how she always thought of herself as her husband's shadow. She was always holding his gear while fans asked for pictures and autographs while she thought to herself "He is the star, I am just here to hold his drink he brought out from the clubhouse." But when in reality, she was his rock. He treated her like his rock, but she had thoughts creep into her mind that told her otherwise. It wasn't until she met with someone that explained this image to her that she realized she wasn't in the shadow - she was the stake.
She goes on to write, "Jeanie, the word used to describe Eve is similar to the idea behind the word ‘stake’. The stake we put by a tomato plant is used as support. That tomato plant grows straight up and blooms and bears fruit. At the same time it leans on the stake to keep growing as God intended it to. In the same way, you are a ‘stake’ in your marriage. You support your husband so he can stay focused on his career and be successful, and you are there when he needs to lean on you for encouragement, failures, joys and sorrows. Therefore, you do not stand in front of him or behind him but always by this side - because a tomato plant without a stake will fall to the ground and die."
She is his stake. He is the tomato. And the tomato plant needs the stake. Just like a husband needs a wife. Especially in this baseball lifestyle. Having someone to talk to after a bad outing or cheer you on during the game is something that these guys are so thankful for.
Thank you Jeanie Velarde for this sweet, touching, inspiring daily devotional from last week!
Love this!
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