Own It!
One hot summer’s day on my Grandfather’s farm, my cousin Scott and I decided that it would be cool to shoot one of the white insulators wrapped around one of the lightening rods on the barn. This wasn’t an easy shot, but we wondered if the porcelain would shatter into thousands of pieces if we could hit it with a .22 rifle bullet.
It did.
It took both of us several tries, but I eventually hit it and it exploded into a shower of white powder…thousands of little pieces sprinkled the field surrounding the barn.
It was very cool.
We both felt that way…until the following Sunday afternoon. My grandfather cornered me by the garage and he CLEARLY wasn’t happy. “I heard you had some target practice the other day,” he said. “Uh…yeah,” I stuttered. “I ought to thrash you right here, but I’ll just leave it this time by saying that had better never happen again. You should be ashamed of yourself!”
I was…but couldn’t help but wonder where my cousin was and why I was the only suspect….
In all fairness, my cousin likely had his own, "come to Jesus" moment with Grandpa and thus was probably asked point-blank about who actually shot the insulator. Still, I think all of us have had experiences where "the buck was passed." Frankly, if we're honest, we've all done some "buck passing" ourselves.
Over the years, I have found that the best policy is to just "own it." I don't say that just out of some sense of moral obligation, although I know the Bible is clear about confession (See I John 1:9 for instance). Truthfully, I say, "Own it" because it works!
Covering up our mistakes, blaming someone else, etc. is as old as the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3). But how often does that just compound the problem? How often do we look back and realize that as unpleasant and scary as it might be, just admitting our failure would have led to the best possible outcome?
Frankly--the answer is, ALWAYS!
So the next time your shoot the insulator...just "own it." I promise it will work out better than any alternative you might imagine!
To that end,
Pastor Joel
I was…but couldn’t help but wonder where my cousin was and why I was the only suspect….
