The Glory of Making Mistakes

I make lots of mistakes on a regular basis.  It does not feel glorious.

I do not enjoy making mistakes, in fact, I tend toward nurturing my mistakes into little pets that I let out whenever I want to feel bad about myself. 

I'm not sure why I like to remind myself that:

I'm a bad Wife
I'm a bad Mom
I'm a bad Friend
I'm a bad Daughter
I'm a bad Employee
I'm a bad Human Being

But I do.  Even in moments where I imagine I'm not mucking things up too badly, I rain on my own parade.  I mean, who throws themselves parades anyway.  Am I right?

I know, I know.  There is no humility in this type of thought process and it also undermines God's purpose in my life.  Hey, if the only victory I achieve is found in self-defeat, I'll take what I can get.  (That was a joke, sort of.)

This mindset goes against the "You are good enough.  You are smart enough and dogonnit, people like you." mentality of this world.  But have you noticed that they stop giving out participation awards in grade school? 

So here I am, surrounded by decades of mistakes staring at me with their puppy-dog eyes, begging to be let out of their cages.  They just want to play a quick game of Walking Dead.  It'll be fun.

It can feel like I'm being mauled if I stay there too long.

Then there's God. 

He never undercuts the mistakes, He never pats me on the head and says they didn't matter or that they were fine.  He uses them to create something new.  He is both Creator and Redeemer, after all.

If.  I.  Let.  Him.

He can use those same mistakes and create something beautiful. 

Something that inspires others to share their mistakes and find freedom. 

Grace.

Forgiveness.

Mercy.

Connection.

If. I. Let. Him.

He will take my mistakes and paint a picture of His Love.  A Love that can spread like wildfire to everyone around me.  And that, is the glory of making mistakes.  Or rather, the glory that can come from making mistakes.  If.  I.  Let.  Him.

I suppose therein lies the rub... I can't keep my mistakes AND let Him make something more of them.   

This post is part of the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival hosted at Peter Pollock’s blog. The word is "Mistakes".  Check out other posts and/or link your own.