This is My Crowd

This is My Crowd
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

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.

4 comments:

  1. Eventually we learn from our mistakes, but I love how you have those accusing thoughts with their puppy dog eyes begging to come out of their cages. Your list of bad this and that was my list many years ago, then I learned that God has different thought about me and they are all good.

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    1. Thank you for your encouraging words! My list of bad is when I'm feeling a bit dramatic. God has done a pretty amazing work in me and continues to do so. Glad to hear that God has already done it for you!

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  2. If.I.let.him. So true. That hit me right in the gut Brina. I'll tell you this much I love to throw a big ol' pity party, without notice, with or without guests. Much love girl. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read it! If I had an invitation for mine, it would read "Parade Rained Out, Pity Party to Follow. Come or Don't." Hahaha!

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