By Rev. Coleman S. Glenn
Sports have been on my mind lately. The Flyers and the 76ers have both beaten the odds and advanced to the second round of the NHL and NBA playoffs. The Phillies still don’t have a great record, but this past week they won more games than they lost. The Eagles look to have made some solid additions via the draft and trades.
I’m cheering for all these Philadelphia teams, but these are not the sports that are at the forefront of my mind. That mental space is reserved for two softball teams and tee ball team. These are, of course, teams that my kids play on. It can make the family schedule pretty busy. This week, for example, there will be games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday - but it also gives the kids opportunity for fun, exercise, and even spiritual growth.
Sports aren’t the only way to get these things, but for those who enjoy them, they can be a great source of recreation, health, and learning.
The Heavenly Doctrine speaks in a few places about the importance of recreation. Charity 190 says, “When the mind has been continually upon the stretch, at its work, it aspires to rest; and when it rests it descends into the body, and seeks there its pleasures, correspondent to its mental operations.” We can’t be constantly working. Watching sports and playing sports are just two of many ways that we can take a break from daily work, so that we can be refreshed when we return to it.
Besides simple recreation, physical activity leads to greater health, which enables us to better serve others. Arcana Coelestia 5159 says, “Someone who is being regenerated loves the things of the body with the end of having a sound mind in a sound body, and they love their mind and its soundness with an end still more interior — that they may be wise in good and understand truth.” Playing sports is one of many ways we can help our bodies work better as vessels for love and wisdom.
Finally, sports provide an opportunity for us to learn spiritual lessons. Even if the rules of a game are not eternal truths, the experience of working hard to do our best within a structure of rules lays groundwork for the work of following the Lord’s Commandments. Arcana Coelestia 3470 speaks of “children, who first learn many things, even trifling ones, such as things relating to sports and the like; not that these may make them wise, but that they may prepare the way for the reception of useful things which are of wisdom.” Even in the innocence of a simple tee ball game, the Lord is at work preparing the way for a heavenly life.