You Send Me - and If I get the chance, I Send You.

You Send Me -------------
Do you suppose anyone plays croquet anymore? When my sister and I were about 12 and 8 respectively my parents bought us a croquet set. I don’t know what the occasion was, but it was probably either for some special occasion or one of us got it as a reward for some good deed. I do remember that Daddy took us down to the Western Auto Store, where Mr. Clyde White was sitting under the striped awning just outside the front door. He was perched on one of those little short 3 foot ladders having a morning smoke and a cup of coffee as the town came awake. He asked if he could help us and Daddy said, “Well sir, we are looking for a real good croquet set. You got anything like that?”
Now Daddy was one of those people who seldom asked a question unless he already knew the answer and that was the case in this instance. The weekly circular which was tucked inside the Nashville Banner had an advertized special on croquet sets and the price was right. So with our new croquet set tucked in the back of the old grey Buick, Donnieta, Daddy and I rushed home to set up the court.
The rules, as I remember them, were fairly simple. The wire wickets were set up in a double diamond shape with double wickets and a stake at either end of the diamonds. The object was to pass through each wicket in turn and be the first player to return to and hit the stake from which he started. Passing through a wicket gave one an extra turn, passing through two wickets gave one two extra turns, and hitting another players ball gave one two turns.
Hitting another’s ball was where the fun and competitive spirit entered into the fray. A player could take one stroke to set the ball one mallets length from the opponent’s ball in any direction; then use the second stroke to clear a wicket. Or, even more fun, one could use one stroke to snug the ball up to the opponent’s ball that had been hit, put your foot on your own ball and wail away at it which by transferred force sent the opponents ball flying far away from their desired location. Having hit their ball again gave one another two strokes to advance while the opposition tried to recover. We called it “sending” someone’s ball and I always took the opportunity to “send” someone’s ball, even if that play was not strategically sound. I just liked to see the look on their face.
When one of the gas stations on the lower end of town was demolished, Daddy saved the big white reflective hoods from the commercial signage and put them up in our backyard. It became the croquet and badminton court for the neighborhood and many a summer night was spent there with other kids from the neighborhood. I don’t know if anyone plays the game anymore, but if so, it probably is on a Wii version.
It was good clean fun, didn’t require a great deal of skill to participate, satisfied our naturally competitive nature, and allowed us to “knock the stuffing” out of someone’s ball without the act being socially unacceptable. I suppose it was sometimes a metaphor for what we would have liked to do to their head.
Occasionally, we would play “doubles” where we teamed up with another person and tried to work together to bring our “team” in by having both team members round the field of play before anyone else. It not only heightened the amount of strategy required, it made the game more interesting and taught us something about synergy.
I think Christianity is a “team sport” in some ways since each of us has a responsibility not only for ourselves but for “one another.” If you want to be shocked, go and look up the number of instructions given in the New Testament concerning “One Another.” We are instructed to Love One Another, Put Up With (forbear is the bible word) One Another, Consider One Another, and Provoke One Another to Love and Good Works. We are pretty good at Provoking One Another, but often not to Love and Good Works. On and on the instruction goes, making it clear that we have a responsibility to God first, others second, and self last, thus “the first shall be last.”
Let’s be always aware of our responsibility to one another and the good that can be achieved, and reaped, by being part of a community of faith.

Have a blessed day and visit us at Maple Hill Church, a church of Christ in Lebanon, TN. Bob