September
18
Tags
Being Perfect (Not!)
This past week, as in Tuesday, September 15, I started a women’s study at church. When I originally scheduled this six-week event, I was going to start it on the 29th for various good reasons. So in a publication that was distributed through the Beth Moore event in our city, that was the start date listed.
But then I put an ad in a magazine about the study and indicated the start date there to be September 19. That isn’t even a Tuesday. Of course I didn’t catch my error till it was printed in 25,000 magazines distributed throughout the community.
After realizing I had the wrong date, I thought to myself, “You must have meant the 15th.” So from then on, that was the published date I stuck with. One study—three different start dates. What could go wrong with that?
A couple days later, I sent out a thousand post cards that asked people to “sing” up for a “marraige” retreat.
Sigh.
When I realized my multitude of mistakes, I thought, “Oh Laurie, how can you be so……. stupid!” This is not the first time I have messed up, and not the first time I have called myself stupid. And the ironic thing is that the women’s study is about the negative self-talk we all—especially women—say to our souls.
I would never say to someone else that they were stupid, yet I allow myself to say it to my self often. And guessing by the number of women who came to this study, I would say this is something familiar to us all.
Hopefully we speak grace to others; let’s also speak grace to ourselves. Thankfully, the older I get, the less I beat myself up for the errors I make. Once I realized my three dates fiasco, I just said, “Well God, you’re bigger than my screw-ups, and it will be OK.” Which is a huge relief, because otherwise? Well, let’s just say I’m in trouble.
I’ll continue to try hard to live error-free and I know I will fail at times. Thank God he doesn’t love me for what I do but instead for who I am. I can’t do anything to separate his love from me. And I know, these things I’ve mentioned are pretty minor. Some mistakes are life altering. God is bigger than those too. We’re not stupid; we’re human.
Being Human connection: James 3:2: “For we all stumble in many ways.” Ain’t that the truth! Yet, we also have Romans 8:1: “Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Amen!
The featured image is a fun little project with tin foil and sharpies. I found it here: Tinfoil art