"Some Call It, Girl Power!"

It's spring training for baseball enthusiasts! We have nearly survived the winter and now we are inching closer to opening day for my favorite sport. I love baseball and have already been following some Saint Louis Cardinal games being televised from their training facility in Jupiter, Florida. The Cards made a significant acquisition (third baseman, Nolan Arenado!) during the off-season that may put them on top of the National League Central this year!

We have twin daughters who played every sport in their high school careers. They started each year with volleyball in the fall, then moved to basketball during the winter and finished up with softball in the spring. (They would have played soccer and been on the track team too, but they literally ran out of seasons!) I lived for the spring when we would grab our lawn chairs and head out to the ballfield. The snap of the ball hitting the glove and the crack of the bat hitting the ball are etched into my sports psyche! There is nothing like seeing a high school girls' sporting event! And if you haven't noticed, the ladies are getting more competitive each season!

Image Credit: clipart-library.com

Thanks to Title IX becoming law in 1972, our daughters had options to participate in competitive sports that young high school female athletes of my youth generation did not have. You may remember the watershed decision that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Some call it, “Girl Power!” I sat behind an SUV today and saw a sticker just under the rear window that advertised, "Lady Force!" This is a central Illinois summer softball club in our area. Our girls participated on a summer club team and found the experience to be empowering. It helped to develop their skills as female athletes. These experiences provide opportunities to develop social, mental, physical, and spiritual fitness in student athletes.

I am encouraged by the actions of major league baseball organizations this year as they have intentionally hired highly qualified female leadership. The Miami Marlins have hired Kim Ng as their general manager and the Boston Red Sox hired Bianca Smith to coach one of their minor league teams. Ng is only the second person of Asian descent to lead an MLB team and Smith becomes the first black female major league coach in baseball.

When I established this devotional blog in August of 2018, I wanted to encourage others to be who God created them to be and to serve Him out of that divine design. Thus, I labeled the blog - Serve by Design! The Bible describes the uniqueness of humanity in Genesis, "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us'" (1:26, NLT). That makes each of us - male and female- pretty special! We have the capacity to relate to God at the deepest levels. The Psalmist underscores this when praising God, "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it." (139:14). 

Since they were little girls, I have always told our daughters that they could be anything that God wanted them to be! I still dream the biggest dreams for them as young adult women who now have their own families. I also pray the same for all eleven of our grandchildren and especially, for our three sweet grand daughters, ages four, eight and thirteen. Their Poppi believes there's something very special about those girls! 😍

Is there someone you know who needs to be encouraged today? Let them know how special they are to God! 

Mike Keppler, retired pastor, 
active churchman and
doting grandparent. 
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com 

 




 

Comments

  1. JmarlerMarch 4, 2021 at 10:26 AM

    Concise outline that God empowers both sexes. Different, by Design, is the key. God assigned roles but made it clear that both were equal in His sight! God is not a respected of persons, he IS Love.

    ReplyDelete

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