DEVOTION//60 feet 6 inches

The distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate in professional baseball is sixty feet-six inches.

That seems to be a strange distance. Why not just 60 feet?

60’ 6”

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, the National League noticed that their fan-based was eroding because the pitcher stood so close to batters that players were striking out more than getting hits.  So in 1892, the league moved the pitcher back to a rubber slab 60′-6″ from home plate.  Or maybe it was 60'-0".

A popular explanation says someone misread the blueprints. A groundskeeper mistook 60'-0" for 60'-6".  The mistake then multiplied around the league.

In fairness, many baseball historians call that accounting for a 60'-6" distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate untrue.  Those authorities say the National League wanted the distance to be 60'-6".

Misreading blueprints

Nonetheless, the story of how a misread blueprint infected all of baseball has provoked me to think about how I have adopted the mistakes -- OK, the sins -- of others as rules for my life. When others take a 60'-6" view of the Commandments, I can be tempted to measure my obedience to God's will by that standard rather than by God's 60'-0" tape measure.

For example, how often have I justified my spiritual lapses by telling myself, "Everyone is doing it"? "Everyone" is watching that Netflix program with horrible language and godless morality. Why shouldn't I? "Everyone's" posts on social media are uncaring and divisive. If I am to make my point on social media, I must do the same.

Following blueprints

When "everyone" is dictating right and wrong in my life, it is past time for me to return to the original blueprints for life on this planet. But looking over those blueprints is not just a matter of reviewing the dimensions of life; it's not just checking that I clearly understand God's Commandments.

As important as it is for me to be clear on God's commands, I need something else even more. I need to be refreshed by the relationship the architect of life has with me. That architect has loved me and will continue to love me in spite of all the times -- all the many times every day -- I play his game of life according to my rules, not his. That architect has paid for my errors, my rule violations, my ejections, and my suspensions. The cost came at an unimaginable personal price to him.

Following the blueprint maker

It's only then, when I'm focused on loving my God because he first loved me (1 John 4:19), when I'm focused on how "he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for [my] sins" (1 John 4:10), that I want to measure my life by his dimensions rather than "everyone" else's dimensions.

So let "everyone" misread the blueprints. Because of God's amazing love for me, I'm sticking with his 60'-0" measurements. What about you?