{"id":12736,"date":"2024-10-07T19:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T23:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/?p=12736"},"modified":"2024-09-17T08:15:51","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:15:51","slug":"right-off-the-bat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/right-off-the-bat\/","title":{"rendered":"Right Off the Bat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Right-Off-the-Bat.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12737\" src=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Right-Off-the-Bat.jpg\" alt=\"Right Off the Bat--Batter hitting a ball\" width=\"450\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Right-Off-the-Bat.jpg 450w, https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Right-Off-the-Bat-300x252.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Right-Off-the-Bat-321x270.jpg 321w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a>When a batter hits a ball, that ball flies right off the bat. While the ball soars through the air, the batter runs toward first base without delay.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Right off the bat means immediately.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We don\u2019t hesitate. Instead, we act:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Instantly<\/li>\n<li>First thing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Rather than sit and ponder the possibilities, we move almost spontaneously.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>We value first responders who act right off the bat.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Their speed often makes the difference in life and death.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Fire fighters<\/li>\n<li>Law enforcement<\/li>\n<li>Medical personnel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>We don&#8217;t want precise workers to act right off the bat.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Their speed results in costly errors or conclusions.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Scientists<\/li>\n<li>Accountants<\/li>\n<li>Builders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For them, <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/haste-makes-waste\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">haste makes waste<\/a>. If we demand their work <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/immediately-if-not-sooner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">immediately if not sooner<\/a>, we suffer in the end.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>May we always choose wisely between patience and speed.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Much in life is worth the wait. Yet, we never want to postpone decisions that require an immediate response.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Without delay [Jesus] called them, and they &#8230; followed him (Mark 1:20 NIV).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Thanks to Darrin Jenkins for the suggestion and to Richard Robards for the photo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.us5.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=11983df7ac45be83499003741&amp;id=1797662da7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email<\/a>\u00a0and receive a free copy of \u201cWords of Hope for Days that Hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a batter hits a ball, that ball flies right off the bat. While the ball soars through the air, the batter runs toward first base without delay. Right off the bat means immediately. We don\u2019t hesitate. Instead, we act: Instantly First thing Rather than sit and ponder the possibilities, we move almost spontaneously. We value first responders who act right off the bat. Their speed often makes the difference in life and death. Fire fighters Law enforcement Medical personnel&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/right-off-the-bat\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[46,37,677,923,443,561,889,3167,3169,925,3166,120,170,3165,938,138,3168,811,486,924],"class_list":["post-12736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wisdom","tag-choices","tag-decisions","tag-devotion","tag-diana-derringer","tag-encouragement","tag-idiom","tag-idioms","tag-immediate-without-delay","tag-instantly","tag-life-lessons-from-english-expressions","tag-off-the-bat","tag-opportunity","tag-patience","tag-right-off-the-bat","tag-self-improvement","tag-speed","tag-spontaneous","tag-wait","tag-wisdom","tag-words-wit-and-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Right Off the Bat - Diana Derringer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When a batter hits a ball, that ball flies right off the bat. While the ball soars through the air, the batter runs without delay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/right-off-the-bat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Right Off the Bat - Diana Derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When a batter hits a ball, that ball flies right off the bat. 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