Losing It

My beloved Florida Gators were beaten soundly on national television last night. With no other games being aired there was a large national audience to witness the whooping too.

There are many areas of poor play that I could point to as the cause for our embarrassing loss, but I believe that game really changed in two 15 second chunks of time. The game opened by our quarterback throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown. The 2nd half opened with a failed onside-kick, 30 yards in penalties, and an immediate touchdown on the next play. You could argue that this one small increment of time drastically altered the outcome of the game for both teams.

It really isn't that different for our personal lives. It doesn't take much time for a bad decision to radically effect the rest of our lives. Speaking rash, harsh words, choosing immediate pleasure over maintaining our fidelity, and destroying our integrity can all happen in a very short period of time. This has the potential to wreck our relationships, eliminate future career & financial options, and ruin our reputation and character. A lifetime of good decisions can be severely damaged by abandoning our principles in the short term. It would bode well for us to not underestimate the opportunities we have each day to do the right thing and not forfeit our future for short term gain.