Winning and Losing Together

 

This past weekend after church on Sunday, I was able to attend our oldest grandson Aiden's championship little league game.  Down one in the last inning we had a man on third.  It had been a great game.  On a wild pitch our player tried to score from third and was tagged out to end the game.  The player who was batting was our grandson.  He would not have a chance to be the hero or make the game ending out.  His opportunity had been taken from him.

Little leaguers handle wins and losses differently.  Some were frustrated and disappointed.  Others were marked with tears trickling down dirt covered faces.  Some seem to not be affected at all.

What we learn in moments of adversity is that we win ... and lose... together!  That is a lesson that we, the body of Christ can learn from a group of 11U ball players.

We are prone to point fingers, blame someone else, deflect what went wrong, while taking no responsibility.  I have heard it said that as a pastor, share the praise publicly, and address the criticism privately.  What that means to me is to acknowledge people when you see Jesus in their lives, and it also tells me to not  humiliate someone when they mess up.  We all we will need some grace from others in our lives, so let's make sure we are passing out plenty of it on this journey called life.