OK, I will readily admit, I do not enjoy sports very much. I could never be described as “an avid sports fan”. Sports will never be my fantasy! But every once in a while something does happen in a sport that I will take note of & remember. Today I read an article & it so brought me back to 1986 & watching the World Series with Danny. Poor Bill Buckner, Game 6, fobbled the ball & the game was eventually lost. So was the World Series although the series did go to Game 7, which by the way, the Sox also lost.
But Buckner became the scapegoat not only for that series but for years to come. The man, retreated to Boise, Idaho to live with his family. But this one mistake followed him. It became his “claim to fame”. Until April 8, 2008. He returned to Fenway to throw out the first pitch & was greeted with a standing ovation.
Bill Buckner had come full circle. He had come back to the point of defeat & instead, found restoration of sorts.
This has so gotten me to thinking since reading this article on Tuesday morning.
Why?
      Why do we do this to each other?
            Why do we label or define each other by our mistakes?
                        
It is like Hester Prynne in, The Scarlet Letter, who must live her days out with the big red “A” on her chest. We do that to each other with invisible letters. Seriously. We become known by our mistakes:
- The one in an affair – A – adultery
- The one who ends a pregnancy – A -abortion
- The one who drinks too much – A – alcoholism
- The one who steals money - T- thief or E-embezzler
- The one who ends a marriage – D – divorced
- The teen who lies on a test – C – cheat
- The one that is left in a broken relationship – U – unwanted
- The one fired from a job – I – inept
- The one raising a rebellious child – B – bad parent
Do you see what I mean? If we are honest, we all do it, to some degree or another. But what about if we were to remember these words of Jesus:
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”         (Matthew 7:1, 2 NLT).
That should stop us dead in our tracks! The same standard we judge with, will be the standard by which we are judged. Whoa! May I walk in grace & mercy towards others. That is the standard by which I want to be judged. The Message puts it this way:
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.”Â
I do not think that any of us would sign up to be picked on, jumped on or criticized. Yet that is the same treatment we will receive if we treat others in that manner.
Let’s remove those invisible letters not only from those around us but off of ourselves. May we remember that, in Christ, we have been forgiven. Not only that, but He has far removed our sins, & those letters(!!!), from us.
“He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12 NLT).
Here is the link to the article about Bill Buckner. May it impress you the way it has me.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Bill-Buckner-Boston-Red-Sox-World-Series-healing-took-a-long-time-after-error-102411
