Blog by Steven Furtick that I enjoyed

Placing your pitch
September 16th, 2008
I was a horrible pitcher in my Little League days. I had a bad habit of trying to place my pitch. I tried so hard to place the ball precisely in the strike zone that I achieved the opposite result: I rarely ever threw a strike.
My coach (my dad) tried to teach me:
Son, you can’t place the pitch. You’ve just got to practice your form until it’s second nature, and then wind up, release the ball, and let it sail into the strike zone.
My tendency to place the pitch didn’t end with Little League baseball. It still shows up today.It shows up when I try so hard to achieve perfection that I miss the opportunity to be excellent.It shows up when I squeeze the life out of a sermon because instead of just letting it flow I try to force too many points across the plate.It shows up in leadership meetings when I diffuse tension too early instead of allowing it to run its course so a solution can surface.Maybe more than anywhere else, it shows up in my relationship with God.When I panic and take matters into my own hands if it looks like a promise that He made me or a goal that I’ve set isn’t going to come to pass.Or when I try to squeeze my walk with Him into a prefabricated box instead of letting His presence permeate every part of my life.
Are you in the habit of placing your pitches? As a parent? A preacher? A leader? In your relationship with God?The great ones learn to trust their form and release the ball until throwing a strike becomes almost automatic.