No matter who you are or think you are, no matter what your education or maturity level is or is not, no matter how well grounded or prepared you consider yourself to be, there are always going to be rough spots, disagreements, punishment, and suffering that will enter your life as you live it out. These so called “bumps-in-the-road” are just a fact of life.
The type or kind of “bump” or its magnitude is not the critical thing with which a man must deal. Big or small, significant or insignificant, overwhelming or manageable,…what ever the case happens to be…can all be handled and properly resolved if a person has a good positive mental attitude and is “growth-oriented.” Remember the truth of life: Growth is Happiness.
Look, you are going to be offended at some point while you live here on earth. Nobody is perfect and everyone has their own personal feelings and beliefs. Life is not fair. It never has been. So physical and mental maturity becomes the real secret in dealing with adversity that surely will strike you while you are alive.
There is an overall guideline that should govern and control your entire life if it is growth, happiness, and true success that you are seeking. This simple guideline should be memorized, pondered, and repeated everyday of your life if you want to be “protected” from making wrong decisions and taking incorrect actions as these “trials and tribulations” crop up in the course of your life. Here is this all-purpose guideline:
If you disagree with a decision that directly affects you,
instead of condemning the person, forgive them. Instead of
rendering judgment, offer grace to them.
Throughout all of Holy Scripture, God Almighty is continually instructing us to “go-the-extra-mile” and find the peaceful solution when in disagreement with another person. He repeatedly tells us to “turn-the-other-cheek” should we receive a “blow” from an adversarial outside party. God implores us to live our life and conduct our activities under the boundaries of His “Golden Rule” instructing us to treat other people, no matter who they happen to be or what the situation actually is,…in exactly the same manner and way that we ourselves would want them to treat us under the same circumstances. That response is not always the easiest way to respond to many things that hit us in the course of living our own life…but it is precisely what and how God Almighty wants us to do and live.
Always err on the side of Forgiveness and Grace. You will be much happier that way, and…you will always be blessed when you do.
I would like to share with you a true story regarding a particular major league baseball game that sharply focuses on what I am attempting to tell you in this article. Good moral character is an all-the-time personal attribute. It is always “in play” and is never put on “hold.” Having and always exercising good moral character may not always be peaceful and fun to do, but for certain it will always be the right thing to do.
The character of a man is exhibited in how he acts and reacts to the people and events that happen to him, rather than what it is (the event) that actually happens to him.
On June 2, 2010, in Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan a game and life changing call was made in the game being played on that day. The call was made by American League first-base umpire Jim Joyce. “Safe!”…the call was both immediate and decisive….and it was Wrong!
Cleveland Indian shortstop, Jason Donald was out by a half step for what should have been the final out to a perfect game, pitched by Detroit Tigers’ Armando Galarraga. It would have been the twenty-first perfect game pitched in Major League Baseball history, and the first ever by a Detroit Tigers pitcher.
Had you been there to observe Galarraga’s reaction after the umpire’s call was made, you would never have known that he had just been unfairly denied a place in baseball history. Umpire, Jim Joyce, reviewing the play after the game ended, sadly admitted he blew the call. “I just cost that kid a perfect game. I thought (Donald) beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw,…until I saw the replay.”
Officially, it will not be recognized as a perfect game,
Unofficially, it always will be a perfect game.
And how the aftermath was handled by the two central figures in that Wednesday afternoon’s “non-perfect” game may very well always be recognized as one of baseball’s perfect moments. A “non-perfect moment.”
Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce will be remembered, not so much for their role in the game or the missed call, but for how they handled it–Joyce, a respected twenty-two year veteran umpire, for tearfully and apologetically admitting to everyone, but most importantly to Armando Galarraga, that he made a mistake; and Galarraga, for the calm, classy, and forgiving way he handled the situation and respectively and forgivingly treated Jim Joyce, from the moment it happened through every moment thereafter.
It’s almost as if both men were showing us how to behave in circumstances where things don’t go our way. They didn’t resort to judgment or criticism of the other person, even though one was clearly in the wrong. They demonstrated that we need to forgive, apologize, admit that we’ve been there and may be again,…and move on. They showed that a person can handle moments of conflict and disagreement with class and grace…..calm, cool, and collected.
Stop passing judgment, even if you believe you have the right to do so. It only escalates the situation and makes it more difficult to achieve harmony. And among Christians, less judgment means better relationships and more accomplishments for His Kingdom.
Be a Real Man And Always Act Like One……………..