March 27, 2022

The Gift of Forgetting

Alvin Dark, former major-league baseball manager, used to say, "There's no such thing as taking a pitcher out. There's only bringing another pitcher in." In other words, don't look back at the bad pitches, the walked runners, the mistakes and the errors of the past. Instead, focus on the next pitch and on how to get out the next batter. Until the last out of the final inning, the only thing that matters is that next pitch.

I've also heard a minor league manager say that the hardest thing to teach new players is how to lose: "To be a successful player you have to have a short memory." Forget going 0 for 4 today. Forget giving up the home run to the last batter. Forget striking out the last at bat . . .

This mindset is crucial not only to effective sports management but to living faithfully, as well.

The Apostle Paul said it this way “… this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14

Church, can you accept the gift of forgetting? Forgetting what lies behind so that we can focus on the gift that lies ahead?

Shalom!
Rev. Will Wells, College Grove UMC