Nearly 60 games for our three boys over the last three months have taught us one thing: baseball is boring. No matter what level we’re talking about, it’s boring. From watching all 13 tee ballers bat and run one base at a time, to an MLB game that ends in a 9-0 shutout (Come on Padres…get with it!), it is slow to say the least. That’s why they call it ‘America’s Pastime’, right? Its a way to pass the time! Not exactly the most inviting or intriguing description. I wonder if Tom Petty was secretly lamenting the humdrum nature of baseball in 1981 when he sang about finding true love. “Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part…”

 

You know what else is boring? Gymnastics. We’re learning this now as Marni has recently finishing her second full season competing in Trampoline and Tumbling. On a competition day, she does three events full of beauty and athletic skill, with precision and courage, lasting a grand total of 45 seconds, sprinkled over two or three hours of….waiting. Perfect for a few Instagram posts, but a long time to be sitting around.

Since we’re talking about boring, here’s another example: Surfing. Take a look at any lineup on the California coast and mostly likely you’ll see some dudes (and a few dudettes) just sitting there, like oversized seagulls looking out at the horizon. Then go to a competition, and you have an organized version of this ‘sitting’, except the ‘sitters’ are all in various colored lycra t-shirts. And if you are one of those ‘sitters’ or their fans, you typically wait around for a few hours to watch them hit the water for 15 minutes. And if they are successful, wait a few more hours for 15 more minutes. BOOOOORINNNNNNGGGGGGG!

You might not be able to tell if you attend any of these events, but sports like this are not life and death. But they do have something in common with other significant endeavors like parenting or community development. They are boring! Little shots of excitement here and there are dwarfed by the monotony of wiping slimy noses, midnight feedings, ending arguments, and making sack lunches. Similarly, plugging along with our partners in Ethiopia on programs like the Savings Groups and adapting our fundraising strategy is rather dull. International travel a few times a year gets the blood pressure up a bit. Dirt roads for a few hours to a baptism is enlivening. But those adventures are sprinkled in with the usual emails, newsletters, meetings, phone calls…drab stuff.

 

It reminds me of a conversation I had with Abe a few months ago. He was upset about some of our neighbors moving away and expressed his great fear that his best friend Addison, who lives a few blocks away, would someday move to another part of Poway (the part with the bigger houses). When I asked why he thought that would happen, he said, “Because they’re so rich.” When I asked why he thought they were so well off, he said “Because Coach Paul (his dad) is a travelling businessman.” I gave him a hug and tried not to let him know I was chuckling inside. Abe’s idea of what makes a man rich is the amount of travel he does and I’m sure that the prospect of wealth on top of traversing the land for important meetings sounds thrilling to his little mind. But I’m sure Coach Paul’s job is boring too.

And that’s the point. Life is boring. Its slow, dull, and there’s a lot of waiting. Excitement is a fleeting pursuit. It comes and goes like the rain in San Diego. While this may sound disappointing, there is great comfort in the bleak prospects our long lives hold. Modest expectations for exhilaration free us to look at the simple and mundane tasks and find in them a lasting happiness and peace in the waiting. In Ethiopia, we’re trying to encourage a transformation that will likely take decades. We may just be the catalyst and never see the ultimate result. Depending on dramatic stories for motivation will leave us dispirited. We have to see ourselves like railroad builders, laying one tie down at a time with confidence that our effort will lead to meaningful change for hundreds of thousands of lives in the region.

Parenting is exhausting enough without holding out for the highlights of our children’s lives to keep us committed to raising good kids. Of course, when a child graduates or gets his first job, we can say the ‘hard work paid off’’ knowing we played a role in shaping their character and capacity. But delighting in the daily struggle is a much safer way for moms and dads to persevere.

Its those mid-inning laughs when a sunflower seed gets stuck on your teammates nose and nobody tells them. Its the conversation in between waves when your friend says something nonchalantly that becomes a life lesson you never forget (true story!). Its the midnight snuggle on the couch with the baby whose nose is stuffed and can’t breathe lying flat in her crib. Memorable moments that feed the soul without an adrenaline rush.

In the spirit of Aslan, one could say, life is boring, but it is good.