Honey and Vinegar
Honey and Vinegar
Masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him. (Eph. 6:9)
Bad News Bears
For most of the season, the young baseball team lost every game by a fairly sizable margin. They swung their bats and missed. They dropped pop-ups and let ground balls go through their legs. Pitchers would throw ten feet over the batter’s head one time, then bounce the ball ten feet in front of the plate the next.
The coaches, however, didn’t yell and scream to embarrass the players. They did everything they could think of to encourage the youngsters. The team worked on the fundamentals over and over again, trying to get better. And finally, all the hard work eventually paid off with a late-season victory . . . then another.
In the Long Run
Remember the old adage, “It’s easier to draw flies to honey than to vinegar”? The coaches could easily have gone the “bad cop” route and turned baseball games and practices into boot camp, but they didn’t. As a result every single kid still loved the game at the end of the season, and the coaches weren’t filled with regrets.
It was certainly frustrating at times to lose so often and so badly, but what will the kids remember years from now? In the long run, it wasn’t all that important that little Billy made an error. It was far more important for him to see Jesus in his coaches. Keep a sense of perspective, guys.
Bottom Line
Both harsh criticism and sincere encouragement can impact a kid for a long time. Which will you choose to provide?