past Sunday, I found myself doing exactly that. As I kicked back on the couch, attempting to enjoy an afternoon of rest after a morning of leading worship, I found myself frantically trying to keep up with both the NASCAR race and the NFL. My team (the Panthers) and driver (Tony Stewart) were both agonizingly close to victory. But, then it all imploded. The Panthers blew a 4th Quarter comeback, largely due to poor passing by Cam Newton and Tony wrecked the entire field going for the win on the last lap. Both men had seen their hops of victory dashed by disaster at their own making. Both men had seen their teammates, and in the case of NASCAR, fellow competitors, have their hopes of wining exterminated as well. The only question that remained was "how will they deal with this?"
I quote Tony's reaction first. In his postrace interview he made these remarks "“I was trying to win the race and I was trying to stay ahead of Matt (Kenseth) there,” Stewart said. “Michael got a great run on the bottom and had a big head of steam. When I turned down, I turned down across the right front of his car......It was a mistake on my part but it cost a lot of people a bad day.”
(Credit: Sporting News)
It took a lot of guts to admit that he made the mistake that cost so many competitors a chance at winning. But he did it.
And in addressing his loss, Cam Newton made the statement "Call it what you want to call it, Cam Newton didn't play good football today." Another tough admission of personal failure to get the job done. Which is somewhat of a change in Cam's attitude. It took a lot of courage, but he finally he did it.
(Credit: Getty Images/Bleacher Report)
In the midst of all that, I started pondering this question "what would the world be like if we all had more humility and could admit, as Stewart put it, when we have screwed up?" I, for one, know my personal world would be better. I will admit that my personality is not one that likes to admit mistakes. It hurts. I often find myself needing a good dose of humility. I think a good majority of the world could use one to be honest.
Jesus spoke often about humbling ourselves, and I think it is probably one of the least abided by of Jesus words. It's hard to humble ourselves. It's hard to admit when we've let others down. It's tough to stand up and say "I blew it, and I know it." But we have to. If we don't, then we fail to progress forward. If we don't admit our mistakes are our mistakes, then we will continually repeat them. But once we take ownership, we put the pressure on ourselves to do something about it. It's in that moment of pressure we take steps toward growth.
Everything in life is a choice. Sometimes our choices pan out, sometimes they don't. But either way, in the end, we have to take responsibility for them. So perhaps we should take a cue from Smoke (Stewart's nickname) and Cam and have the humility to admit it when we "cost people a bad day" or "<insert your name here> didn't have a good day today. From my perspective, it's only when we do that do we really have a chance to move toward those good days, and I hope you will join me in doing so.
