Is it in Your Nature?

Sometimes good things happen to me in my life that I can’t really explain. They just happen and while I don’t know necessarily know why they happen; I am still very grateful. I’ll give you an example.

Many years ago, when I was first started to play baseball, I met Scott. He was the best player on our team and probably the best player in the whole league. I, on the other hand, couldn’t hit a curve ball and thought a slider was a small hamburger. Fortunately, Scott took me under his wing. He was the star shortstop and I was the struggling second baseman, but Scott was patient with me, never got down on me, and when I booted a ball or made an error, he gave me tips that helped me get better each week. Eventually we both played on a team that won a World Championship, the highlight of my baseball life.

As my baseball career wound down and I switched to golf, I lost track of Scott. He lived up in LA and I lived in south Orange County. But then one day, when I was golfing as a single, I got paired up with a couple and when I walked on to the first tee, I saw that it was Scott and Rhonda. I was excited to see Scott again and super excited to get to play golf with him. Even better, I found out he had recently moved to San Clemente and so for the past year we have gotten to play golf together many times.

Scott coming into my life was a great thing and not just because of baseball and golf. The Coronavirus has made it impossible for my wife to go to the gym and swim the past four months. So recently, Scott and Rhonda have been letting my wife go to their house early in the morning while they are out golfing so she can swim in their big beautiful pool. This has been fantastic for my wife because she loves swimming like I love baseball and golf. And you know what they say about a happy wife!

When I think about good things happening in my life, more often than not it involves good people coming into my life. When Scott helped me with baseball, he probably never realized what a good thing he was doing, it was just in his nature. And Scott and Rhonda probably don’t realize what a huge blessing it is to let us use their pool, it’s just in their nature to be kind people.

And that got me thinking… You don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money or put out a huge amount of time and effort to help somebody out. Sometimes… if it’s in your nature… you just might make a positive impact in somebody’s life without even realizing it!

I expect to pass through life but once. 

If therefore, there be any kindness I can show to any fellow human being, 

let me do it now. For I shall not pass this way again.

~ William Penn