Getting Dusty... and Dusted Off
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment." – Will Rogers
I like Will Rogers’ dry sense of humor. His sharp wit reminds me of some of my favorite contemporary comedians such as Bob Newhart and Kelsey Grammar.
However, like many jokes, there is some underlying truth in Will’s quote above. Simply put, everyone makes mistakes in life… some of us more than others (guilty as charged). What matters is whether we learn valuable lessons from those failures or choose to repeat them ad nauseum.
Having played and coached competitive sports for more than 50 years, I have experienced my share of wins and losses. However, as thrilling as those victories may have been, it is the sting of the defeats that stayed with me longer… and from which I learned my most valuable lessons. Long story short, those losses hurt so much that I did everything in my power not to repeat them
And so, every time I made an error, failed to deliver a base hit in the clutch, or missed a critical shot as a player – or made a bad decision as a manager – I analyzed every aspect of the game over and over again. I can’t begin to tell you how many sleepless nights I endured while I replayed every move I made, good or bad, in my mind. But you had better believe that the next time I took the field or the court, I was fully prepared to win… and usually I did.
My friend, please don’t be afraid to fail. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to go through life doing nothing of consequence simply because I was afraid of failing.
On the contrary, I encourage you to aim high and act boldly. And when you occasionally fall short, as you inevitably will, follow the advice of songwriters Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern. Simply “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”
“Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.” 2 Samuel 12:20 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
