I've often thought that if I ever wrote another book I would entitle it, "Some things are taught, some are caught and some roll between your legs."  Then I realized people probably aren't interested in reading a book whose title is longer than the book!  It is a great concept though … and one that I find blog-worthy. 

There is a lot of truth in that statement. So many things in our life are taught to us. Our parents are our first teachers. They teach us to walk and talk and how to hold a spoon.They teach us to tie our shoes and look both ways before we cross the street. Then we start school and have "real" teachers. We meet friends and wow, do they teach us A LOT of things we never could have figured out on our own – some of which we’d be better off never knowing!

Then there are some lessons that I like to refer to as "caught." You sort of learn it through osmosis. You watch others and learn from their mistakes. You see them try and fail and try again and you "catch" the message. 

And finally, some lessons are neither taught nor caught … those are the ones that unfortunately roll between our legs. Any seasoned infielder knows that a ball rolling between your legs is about the most disheartening error you can make. There's no worse feeling than hearing the crack of the bat, carefully positioning yourself in the perfect spot to complete the play only to lift your glove and realize the ball has rolled right between your legs. It is sickenin ... Life is a lot like that. Sometimes you just don't get it.  You're poised and ready for everything life has to throw at you only to pick your glove up and realize you've missed the ball. 

These are the lessons that are usually the most memorable. The ones when we just do not get it. These are the lessons that we should have learned but just missed the boat. We had a chance but for some reason, maybe pride or stupidity or just plain stubbornness, we chose to ignore the lesson and do it any way. In fact, I almost shortened this blog title to "doing it any way." You know what I'm talking about These are the things that are forever burned in our memory. We wish we had a do-over on these. 

I'm going to share some lessons that WE've (let's include Dewey just because I haven't blogged about him recently) had roll between our legs …

When my husband was a boy, his family farmed. There was ALWAYS work that needed to be done …. and they worked A LOT!  This particular day, Dewey had earned some "free time."  I'm not sure if the sun had baked his brain from working all those hours in the tobacco field or if he had an out of body experience, but for some reason he told his dad that he was bored. Clearly he was not thinking …clearly. LOL!  That error in judgment ended about a day later with blistered hands after shoveling piles of sand from one spot to another … and back again ... That one “rolled between Dewey’s legs” but my children definitely caught that lesson. They have heard their dad tell this story time and again and to this day, the “B” word is taboo in our house.

My mom was the baby in her family. And as with most “babies” they seem to have it easier than their older siblings. She was allowed to “sleep in” and come to the fields later than everyone else – something I’m sure still irks her older sister to this day! Her grandmother would always have a biscuit with King’s syrup ready for her to eat on her walk to the field where everyone was working.

By the way, you have not lived until you have tasted a hot biscuit drenched in cold King’s syrup.  as anyone noticed that King’s went from using the “paint can” container (my personal favorite) to the glass jar to now the plastic? I want to start a campaign for King’s to go back to the paint tin. I really believe the syrup was a little sweeter in the can.  

Anyway, my mom would make her way to the fields with syrupy biscuit in hand. The only thing that stood between her and her destination was a rooster! That would have been reason enough for me to sleep an extra few hours as I have no use for anything that has feathers. Most every day the rooster would chase her and try to steal her biscuit. On more than one occasion, my mom went running back to the house with a tear-stained face and sticky fingers … but no biscuit. You would think that after this happening two or three times, she would have just taken another route.

I was racking my brain to think of a story to tell on myself. So much of my life things that have “rolled between my legs” ... on the ball field and off. As crazy as it sounds, I was probably more upset about the errors on the ball field than in life. One very strange thing that I do over and over is refuse to use an oven mitt. As I type this blog, I am looking down at a fresh scar from yesterday when I shoved my hand into a 400-degree oven to test the softness of a sweet potato I was cooking. As always, I misjudged and the top of my hand brushed against the top of the oven. OUCH! This happens all the time. It is like I cannot spend an extra ten seconds to put the oven mitt on. It is crazy!

I love that God gives us more than one chance. He understands that a lot of times we are not going to “get it” the first time. We are going to get punished or robbed or burned more times than we will want to recall. Things are going to slip by us ... So many lessons are going to “roll between our legs.” Yet, He is the God of second chances. If you don’t believe me, read Jonah. Jonah 3:1 says, “And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying …”  Jonah disobeyed God the first time and was a little worse for wear. In fact, he was fish food. While in the belly of the whale, Jonah “got it.”    

And there are no sweeter words than verse 3, “And Jonah obeyed…”

My hope and prayer is that we all “get it” ... the first time.