How to Bowl a Perfect Game

Dear Lord; You know Father, it’s fascinating to me where I find inspiration from You these days.  Last night for example, it was in a bowling alley.

As You’re aware, I bowl on a league on Thursday nights.  I’m not particularly good, but I’ve been improving a little at a time throughout the year and no matter what, I enjoy doing it.  Anyways, over the last few weeks I’ve been struggling to find consistency with putting the ball in the “sweet spot” of the pocket to get the stacked strikes I need to improve my score.  It’s been a bit frustrating, but last night I realized that maybe I’d been dissecting it too much, and possibly was missing the forest for the trees.  One of my teammates who’s a much better bowler than I am had said something to that effect the previous week, and for some reason I overlooked it until last night.  He told me I was fighting the ball too much, and that if I just find the correct path and relax, the ball would do the rest.  Now of course, the correct path is different for every ball, lane setup and bowler but the idea is that once you find and follow the proper path, down those pins go.

Then it clicked… That’s also how we find You.

Ok, so maybe comparing a strike in bowling to living in Your Love is a bit of a stretch, but I think the analogy is valid.  We all have different paths to a close relationship with You.  Like adjusting for variances in lane setup and ball characteristics, we all have to find our own connection with Your Grace and follow it diligently, adjusting for changes and learning from our missteps.  By examining our form and practicing we improve our throw, just like reading Your Word and conducting our lives by Your Will improves our ability to be Your Servants.  And as my teammate so aptly stated, once we have the path figured out, as long as we don’t fight the ball’s nature, it will do the rest.

I desperately want that close relationship with You Father, and I’m working every day on finding and following the right path to Your Countenance.  Please help guide us all to that Holy Strike Zone, and help us find the Light in Your Perfect Game.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil