Yesterday my basketball “gave up the ghost” and deflated.
And my eyes welled-up with tears. Dangit… I am a messed up old dude.
You should know. I love to shoot basketball. I don’t like to run, or lift weights, or even walk. But I LOVE to shoot.
I’ll run around shooting and chasing and shooting and swishing for hours. I LOVE the sound of that basketball slipping through the net without even hitting the rim. It’s music to my ears. SPLASH!
And I shoot almost every day. Sometimes six days a week. I work up a good sweat and it doesn’t feel like anything other than pure enjoyment.
Plus… it’s how I get my exercise.
Just last year for Father’s Day my oldest son gifted me a really nice, kinda expensive basketball. I WAS using an indoor/outdoor $29 fake leather ball and he said, “As much as you shoot, I thought you needed a nice ball.”
And he was right. I LOVE that basketball.
After each shooting session, I’d grab the spray bottle at the “Y” and wipe down and clean my ball to get any dirt or grime off of it. Often, I’d see others look at me confused.
“Is it common to clean a basketball after each use?”
Nope. But the result was that my basketball was supple, soft and grippy.
Needless to say… I had made a serious attachment.
Then yesterday… as I was putting some air in… PFFFFTTTT. And my basketball deflated rapidly. The rubber valve simply dropped into the basketball and was gone forever.
Initially, I kinda panicked as I wondered, “Can I fix this?” But almost as quickly my experience said, “NOPE! It’s done.”
And my eyes welled up with tears. “What am I gonna do now?” I NEED my basketball.
Then I started doing some math.
If I averaged 5 days a week (and that’s probably low) times 1 hour per shooting session (that’s low too) times 4 weeks each month times 11 months… that’s over 200 hours of pure joy.
And I considered.
“How much money would I pay for over 200 hours of pure joy? HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY? Probably a lot more than the cost of a basketball. Even a really expensive basketball.
And it got me to thinking.
Am I valuing my time properly. Because there’s a cost I’m paying for ever hour, or minute, or second I waste. There’s a cost I’m paying for not doing what I know I should… or could.
It’s an interesting question, right?
How much would we pay for pure joy?
Here’s the cool part.
The things that should be the most important things in our lives typically cost zero dollars. Family, friends, kindness, showing love to one another, peace of mind. Our relationship with our Savior. Most of the time, it costs nothing more than simple time and effort.
And those are the things that can bring us the MOST and the purest kinds of joy.
So… are we willing to pay THAT price?
NOTE: How weird am I that a deflated basketball ends up here? Dangit… I am a messed up old dude.
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