Bloopers

You’ve heard of sports bloopers. You know—those film clips of football players being hit and flipping head over heels, or the one that shows two baseball outfielders trying to catch the same fly ball and end up smacking into each other while the ball lands in between them.

Sometimes preachers make bloopers too. These are called “Sunday morning bloopers”. Several years ago, I made one of these Sunday morning bloopers. I was leading the congregation in singing the hymn He Leadeth Me and noticed some people were less than enthusiastic; so I stopped after the second stanza, and in an attempt to energize the congregation, I told them to think about the words in the next stanza and sing them like they mean them. Here are the words to that stanza: “And when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace the victory’s won, even death’s cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.” The Jordan River is a metaphor for crossing over into death and the whole verse is speaking about death and dying. As you can imagine this verse didn’t create the desired enthusiasm. After singing the first few words, I realized my mistake and wanted to wave my arms and shout: “No! No! Not this stanza!” but then I’d be going from bad to worse. So, I just ended with a comment about how that wasn’t the verse I had in mind and moved on to my sermon for the morning.

We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all had a blooper or two. When I was younger, I was very self-conscious about making these kinds of mistakes. Since then I’ve learned not to take myself so seriously. Life is too short to get stressed out over the small stuff.

Cardiologist, Robert Eliot, once said: “Rule number one is: ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff.’ Rule number two is: ‘It’s all small stuff.’ ” This axiom is actually based on an ancient biblical principle. We find this principle in Jesus’ words: “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25). Jesus tells us not to worry about even our most basic needs—food and clothing. When Jesus tells us not to worry about these basic needs, he’s saying: “Don’t sweat the small stuff; it’s all small stuff.”

Yes, I admit that sometimes I do stress out—even about the small stuff, but I’m slowly learning to laugh at my mistakes, learn from them, and move on. May God help you to lighten up and enjoy life. Life is too short to get stressed out about the small stuff and remember—it’s all small stuff!