There she was…walking across the parking lot in a dash. The morning was unfolding and she was running late. Her hurried pace indicated the stress that weighed down upon her schedule… What happened next caught my eye (interlude)
We’ve all had moments when what you intend to do, doesn’t quite match up with what you actually do.
Whether it’s a simple comment we wish we could take back or a chosen action that obviously was the wrong choice. Mistakes are a part of everyone’s journey. From BIG mistakes to small ones …what we do in the moments that follow them – really matters…
We may desire to be people who do the ‘right thing’, but it’s often the thought of embarrassment, guilt or shame that might hinder us from carrying it out. Fear tends to tell us to flee. You’ve had those feelings well up within you. I have too.
As a parent: I try and model, teach and have my kids ‘make it right’ when they have been in the wrong.
For example: we’ve made it a point to have our kids look each other in the eye balls, when apologizing to one another. They don’t like this. It is typically a yelling of ‘I’m sorry’ as one storms out of the room. Only to have them return within seconds to have to apologize while looking them in the eye. Whatever occurred, we want them to ‘own it’ and ‘make it right’.
So, back to the parking lot story…
She places her drink (that doesn’t have a lid?) onto the hood of her car with haste. It spills over – of course, which brings obvious and expressed frustration. Fumbling for the keys within her purse, she hits the clicker. The familiar sound signals the car is unlocked and the headlights flash in unison. The problem was – the car that performed those functions wasn’t the one that she was now trying to enter. A look of shock and embarrassment shoots across her face as she glances up to see “her” car performing these announcements, two spaces over.
Then it was the quick glance at the spill rolling down the hood as she walked away and toward her car. She settled into her vehicle. And as the car began to position itself to rush on with it’s agenda of getting Ms. Late to her appointment, she stopped it. Ms. Late emerged from the car with a couple napkins, back toward the spill and took a moment to ‘make it right’…
It literally took her an additional 53 seconds to ‘make it right’.
A short interruption.
Which led me to ask this question: How many times do I STOP and take the extra time to ‘make it right’?
It might take longer than 53 seconds in some moments, but really – in the end: isn’t it less time to do the repair work relationally in the immediate moment – versus – waiting for the bill of accumulative damage to be delivered down the road?
Making it right – might not be our instinctive response. We may want to run or flee.
But choosing to do the right thing always helps us grow into the right kind of people.
It inspires others. As I attest, through writing these words. I am the man who watched this unfold behind the store window.
Is there anyone in your life right now – that you need to go and “make it right” ?
Do you have a story to share? (something you did, or was done for you?)
