Fumble

No matter who you are, at some point, you will get it wrong.  That is a rather liberating statement.  NFL great Jerry Rice was an unbelievably talented player.  During his career from 1985 to 2004 he scored 197 touchdowns.  In the games I watched him play, he seemed to be able to do no wrong.  Yet, his stats show otherwise.  The same Jerry Rice that scored 197 touchdowns also fumbled the ball nineteen times.  Nobody is perfect.

I am only human.  As such, I inevitably make mistakes.  As a parent, my son is constantly watching me.  He is young enough he wants to be like me.  He will imitate me in the way I do things, talk and interact with others.  When I stop to think about that, it is truly frightening.  I know who I am and I am far from perfect.

There are those little lessons we are given the opportunity to share with our kids that come along when we mess up.  The other day, I was not having a good day.  I wasn’t feeling great; my patience had been worn thin and I was grumpy by that time of the day.  I love my son.  He is probably one of the greatest parts of my life.  Yet as an eight-year-old, he can be an eight-year-old.  I think he was playing after I had asked him to get his shoes on.  He kept on playing and I asked again for him to get his shoes on.  Did a few other things to get ready for the day and when I came back in the living room, you can guess who did not have their shoes on.

Being on the grumpy side I barked at him far in excess of what he did not do.  I caught myself and had to step back.  He hurried and put his shoes on and I could see it hurt him.  My son loves to please.  He has a very tender heart and is caring towards others.  My words, spoke in anger, hurt him.

I immediately stopped what I was doing, went to him and knelt down so I could look him in the eye.  I apologized to him.  I acknowledged that I over reacted and shouldn’t have spoken in anger to him and asked his forgiveness.  I hugged him tightly and told him I love him very much and that I overreacted.

I cannot expect my son to own up to his mistakes if I don’t own up to mine.  He needs to see me take ownership of my mistake and how I handle them as positively as possible.  Everyone makes mistakes.  It is how we deal with our mistakes that builds character.

One of my favorite Bible stories is that of King David.  God called him a “man after his own heart.”  Yet, King David was as capable of making mistakes as anyone.  Heck, he had a man killed so he could take his wife.  What I love about David is how he handled his mistakes.  Throughout Psalms and the books of Samuel, we see David own up to what he did wrong.  He pours his heart out before God.  David doesn’t shift blame or make excuses.  He owns his mistakes.  That is the example I want to set for my son.  To own my mistakes and move forward trying to not repeat them.

How do you handle your mistakes?  Do your children see how you handle them or do you keep it hidden from them?  Who do you look to as an example of what to do when you get it wrong?