What Matters Most

In July, 2016 I had the opportunity to umpire at the Park City World Series. When I was growing up playing, this tournament was played in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Today they alternate years at Park City and Steamboat Springs. Teams who want to play in this tournament have to qualify by placing 1st or 2nd in a select number of tournaments throughout the year. When I played on the Utah Horns, we placed 2nd in this Steamboat tournament. It was a very memorable experience. In 2016, I was invited to umpire in that tournament by the Triple Crown tournament committee. They paid for my gas and hotel and they treated me very well. In one of the games a team from Nebraska was playing a team from California. It came down to the last inning where California had the tying run on 3rd base and the winning run on 2nd, with 2 outs. The next batter hit a high fly ball to right field and it looked like Nebraska was going to win. The right-fielder drifted back to make the catch, and the ball hit off the tip of his glove and fell to the ground. By the time he got the ball to the infield, the winning run had come across to score. The game ended, and Nebraska jogged off the field. California packed up and left, while Nebraska went to prepare for their 2nd game. I was done umpiring for the day, so I went to pack up my gear and leave for my car. I was about 20 steps away from the field when I had a prompting to turn back and go talk to the kid to who dropped the fly ball. When I went in to their dugout, I saw the kid sitting alone on the bench with his arms folded and his head down. I sat down next to him and started to talk to him. I can't remember exactly what I said to him, but it was along the lines of, "don't get down on yourself, because you're getting ready to play another game right now" and "you're going to make errors in games, some larger than others, but don't let your errors define you as a player." I gave him a fist bump and wished him luck. I left the dugout and his dad stopped me, shook my hand, and said thank you with tears in his eyes. A couple days later, I received a text message from my umpiring supervisor. His text included a picture of me that the Nebraska coach had taken while I was talking to his player. His text also included how the coach of that team saw a different side of his player the rest of the tournament and it also had an impact on the rest of the team, as they started lifting him up as well instead of blaming him for the loss. I was grateful that I obeyed the prompting of going back to the kid and talking to him. I wasn't going back for praises or to be seen, I just wanted to make the kid feel better going forward.

Most of the time, we obey promptings and show little acts of kindness towards others and we don't hear about that person ever again. Satan tries to make us believe that our acts of kindness aren't worth our time because they really don't make a difference anyways. Every now and then, God allows us to know and understand the difference we made. Just because we aren't always given that knowledge doesn't mean that we didn't change somebody's life. If you receive a prompting to help someone, don't hesitate to obey.

President Boyd K. Packer once said, "That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound. Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind. The Holy Ghost communicates with our spirits through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings through promptings and impressions. We may feel the words of spiritual communication more than hear them and see with spiritual rather than with mortal eyes." (Prayer and Promptings, October 2009 General Conference)