The Big A

A few Saturdays ago I was heading up a game of babysitter’s backyard baseball when the words rang out. I had just stepped up to home plate when I caught the remark from one of the boys:
“I want to switch teams. The other player on my team is bad. John is making us lose!” This comment was made in reference to the boy’s younger brother who amazingly enough, had not broken into tears. Still, I could not just let the comment go. The words had been selfish and unkind and I knew they would soon lead to unkind actions. Inevitably I would have to call the entire game off because of the controversy. I looked at the speaker, David. He was wearing an Angels baseball T shirt. Ding ding! An idea popped into my head. I walked into the middle of our little field (if you could even call it that).

“Hey guys, why are we playing?”The reply was confident.
“To have fun”
“Yes but what makes us have fun?”

Silence. I had their attention now. Raising my arms above my head I formed a capital A. “It’s the Big A guys. It’s attitude. How can you have fun if your attitude stinks? I really don’t care who wins this game but what I do care about is how you play it. The Big A is what God sees. That is what He cares about!”

It worked. No more unkind words. No hurt feelings. No ending the game because of controversy. What is more, the kids grabbed onto the concept.

Throughout the entire evening further comments (uninitiated by me) were made. Comments like, “John don’t be a poor sport. Remember your Big A?” One child even went so far as to carry the concept over into other things.

I questioned the youngest boy about why he had taken the piece of cake from the very center of the cake. “There was more frosting on it than any of the other pieces!” I marveled at his truthfulness. He smiled. Cake fork in hand, he created a circle with his arms. “Hey, I’ve got the Big O. ”

"The Big O?"

"Yeah, O for honesty!!"

O for honesty huh? Well, I guess we can work on spelling later. At least he got the right idea!