The first step

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. (Herman Hesse)

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Too many times we hold onto our mistakes, focusing all our thought and attention on them instead of what Christ wants to do with them. He actually wants to use them as a catapult to move us forward, not anchor us to the past. God is always doing something new - reminding us to forget what lies in the past and focus on the new (Isaiah 43:18-19). God is making a way forward, but we have to step out into it if we are to ever be free of our past. When we focus on today, we are letting go of those things we are unable to change and leaning into what God wants to do with and through us today. 

Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our burdens on the Lord so that he can sustain us. In other words, we 'throw off' what is not useful and move toward what is most promising - Christ's grace, provision, and purpose. Some of us are still trying to make sense of some hurt or hang-up in our past, all the while missing out on what God is so eager to do in our present. Sometimes we just need to let go of the drive to understand - to make sense of it all. We may never fully appreciate the things that created such disappointment or disgust in our lives, so we must not dwell upon them. 

When we begin to put all our cares and worries about those things upon the shoulders of Christ, we let the one who can bear that burden carry it. How do we do that? 'Cast' carries the idea of putting forth effort in order to no longer be in control of what we once held so closely. We no longer desire to carry the thing - so we throw it far from us. It isn't useful to us; therefore, it needs to be removed as far from us as possible. No one moves forward until they unburden themselves from the past. Maybe our way forward begins with the first step of letting go of the burden of our mistakes. Just sayin!

Stop, ask, then listen

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:5)

How many times do we launch into life's daily activities, then come up against something that kind of bewilders us? It is likely at least once in a while for all of us, but sometimes this happens quite frequently - especially when life seems to be throwing you curve ball after curve ball. Sadly, I think a great many of us attempt to muddle through in our own effort, only stopping to ask for help from God when we get things so messed up that we cannot figure our own way out! We reveal a lot about ourselves by doing so - a lot about our pridefulness, stubbornness, and self-focus!

If we don't know what we are doing, why don't we stop to ask for help? H.G. Wells always said, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." How many of us have 'fallen down', attempting to do things without asking for direction or help, only to find ourselves falling down again and again as we repeatedly face the same hurdle? How much wiser would it be to just 'stop', 'ask', and 'listen'? I didn't say it would be easier, because when we have to actually go through the process of asking and listening, it requires us to STOP. Whatever it is, we have to STOP, ask, and then listen - that means we don't take a step forward until we have sought the direction we are to take.

I think we want to make good decisions, but we don't like to admit we need the wisdom of Christ to make them. We need only look as far as the Book of Proverbs to find repeated instruction in how to move - when to move, how to move, and when it is wiser to just not move at all. We have wisdom at our disposal, but do we STOP long enough to consider it? As we explored yesterday, we have to ask honestly - not with only 'half-truths' or 'insinuations' of our real need. When we are vulnerable like that, God can answer us with the wisdom we really need to work through the problems at hand. We will only 'stand up' today because we stopped long enough to learn from yesterday's mistakes and missteps. Just sayin!

Not perfect - how about you?

True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life. (Proverbs 22:4)

True humility - this suggests to me there might just be a form of humility which is not genuine or real at all. It is that type of humility where one "pretends" to be submissive to the will of another, but really there is a little (or a lot) of resistance going on. It is like the age-old adage of us sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside! Humility is often thought of as being modest or a little bit inferior to another. Humility is really a spirit of deference. It is the respectful and courteous regard of others in our lives - the willingness to take the back seat or to play second fiddle, so to speak. It is the condition of no longer pretending but being real with each other. A truly humble person is not afraid to be themselves around others or God. There are a lot of ways we don't show our humility. One of the most evident is when we say we know everything there is to know about a certain circumstance or issue in our lives. We actually shut the door on growth whenever we are so determined to maintain the "pretense" of knowing it all. There is a danger in being a know-it-all kind of person - it is in never learning from our mistakes! We allow history to continue to repeat itself whenever we are unwilling or unable to accept direction in our failure. Thinking we can handle it ourselves or that we know exactly how to "fix" the problem will keep us from getting the help we really need. Correction requires more than common sense sometimes! Not everything we learn comes through common sense - sometimes it comes because we get still long enough to realize we don't actually know it all!

Humility identifies with someone other than yourself. As long as my viewpoint is turned inwardly, I cannot see what others see, nor can I learn from what they have learned. Learning to identify with other people - truly connecting with them at the heart, mind and spirit levels - opens the door for us to learn their lessons. I don't know about you, but if I can save a little hardship in my own life by learning from it in yours, I am all for that! Some of us are always looking for others who are exactly at our same level of maturity, spiritually / emotionally / or intellectually. I have learned the most from those who had already mastered the skills! I also learn quicker when I have the opportunity to help another walk through where I have already walked! We need to connect with each other in order to grow. The opposite of humility is a condition we could label as arrogance. It is the condition of feeling and acting superior to another. It may be that we dress better, drive a better car, or don't have the same issues in life. Regardless of the reason for the sense of "superiority", the arrogant man or woman actually alienates others rather than drawing them closer. God reminds us it is the humble who receive honor - not the arrogant. The arrogant may "feel special", but the true honor goes to the humble. If everything in life is done as a matter of "showing" oneself as superior to another, it will be a miserable existence. Humble people are not afraid to help another get the honor! When humility is the course of your life, you actually look for opportunities for another to be successful!

One of the hardest things to do is admit your inability. Humble people don't fret it! They are honest to the core - knowing the only way to find help is to admit they actually need it! Arrogant people won't share these inabilities because there is a pretense which must be maintained. When we are willing to let go of the pretense, we actually open the door for the help we so desperately need. Failure is a part of life - get over it! You cannot go through life masking your failure - in time, it will become evident - you can only bury it for so long. Scripture reminds us God actually "opposes" the proud but gives grace to the humble. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be on the side of the field where I look across and see God as my opposition! It is hard to let go of needing to "be right" all the time, but when we do, we realize we begin to gain the wisdom we so desperately require in order to move beyond our failures. Just sayin!

Scrap Pile Growing?

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. (George Bernard Shaw)

How are you doing on that 'mistake' count? I could fill journals! Mistakes are a part of life - good or bad judgment is the only thing that contributes to mistake making - right timing combined with bad judgment can make for an equally messed up outcome. There are lots and lots of checks and balances that are in play every day to keep us from 'messing up', but you and I both know we don't always follow the rules or maintain a perfect balance! Mistakes aren't always bad, though. Yes, they can be costly, but the 'expense' of making a mistake is actually one way of saying we just had an investment made into our 'learning'!

For a good man may fall seven times and get back up again, but the wicked will stumble around and fall into misfortune. (Proverbs 24:17)

Scripture doesn't tell us a good man won't fall (fail) - it reminds us of the power within us that helps us get back up again and again. For those of us that fall pretty often, let me just lay it all out there. We fall down, God helps us get back up, we fall down again, and he still helps us get back up. God never tires of helping us up, but he would get pretty tired of us just plain quitting! Sometimes we think we will just fail again, so we quit instead of being subject to failure ever again. I am learning woodworking skills and I have a large pile of wood 'mistakes' that have been both time-consuming and costly. Have I given up? Nope! Why? I want to master this!

We need to have that "I want to master this" kind of attitude toward those things we label as mistakes or failures. Our mistakes don't master us - we master them, but that requires us getting back up and doing it over and over again until we get it right. Let me be clear here - God doesn't celebrate our mistakes, but he doesn't leave us to wallow in them, either. He reaches out his hand, helps us back up, dusts us off, and then helps us take the first steps toward 'mastering' whatever it is all over again. Why? He understands the power of grace. He has done more than just provide the 'means' by which we can have grace, he provides the constant learning that comes each time grace is extended.

A good man falls - not once - but repeatedly. Don't overlook those words because they will give you encouragement if you let them. We will fall. We have the choice as to whether we will get back up again, though. We can wallow or we can rise. What you choose to do with each mistake is really going to determine the outcome of the mistake. I choose to make mine learning opportunities. Yes, I have lots of 'scrap' in the woodpile, but I can always find a project to make from the 'scrap'! God has a way of turning our 'scrap' into something beautiful. So, why not trust him to help you up and get you started on the right path again? Just askin?

A stone for a wall or a path?

While most mistakes we make are not those that result in a permanent riff in a relationship with another, there is a tendency for us to recall the past ones made when the individual keeps making the same ones, isn't there? Most of the time, we do our best to not make the same mistake again, but if you have ever made the same one more than once, you know just how frightfully hard it can be to seek forgiveness, much less give it! Rarely do we look as mistakes as 'permanent' because we allow 'do-overs' in life. Wasn't the key labeled backspace on the keyboard really a way of allowing us to retype those misspelled words, or completely eliminate a thought we did not want to continue with in those written words? We all have those 'backspace' moments - those times when we know we have made mistakes, but we need to the grace of God to wipe them out so we can start over again.

Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. (Proverbs 28:13)

Olympic downhill skiers don't learn their skill playing video games any more than we learn the 'art of forgiveness' from just saying we will forgive someone. Forgiveness is a skill best learned by active participation. How much more do my actions convey when I not only forgive, but also come alongside to embrace and help that other with their 'do-over' in life? Or to get just a little closer to home...when they embrace us and help us with our much needed 'do-over'? Life isn't easy and choices are made that sometimes don't always end up the way we want. Rather than seeing these mistakes as 'discards' in life, wouldn't it be wonderful if our mistakes could actually become the building blocks by which a thing of beauty could spring forth? By God's grace no mistake is ever wasted!

According to Webster, a mistake is a 'blunder in choice'. It carries the idea of a wrong act of judgment. We all suffer from impaired judgment at times, but we need never reject those moments of impaired judgment as stepping stones to help us take steps in the right direction. Admit the misstep and incorporate the lesson learned by it so you don't make it again! At that point, it isn't wasted - it becomes foundational to not making the same one again. Yes, you may make a similar one, but it won't be exactly the same. Yes, you may have a few stones laid before you realize they weren't leading you down the right path, but you can redirect any path! Path changes often come because we are reconciled by love - the love of Christ, then the love of those who befriend us on this earth. 

We are received by God without barrier - don't let mistakes become a barrier that keeps you away from being received by each other. We are the ones who take those mistakes and use them to either build walls that separate us, or turn them into paths that pave the way to newness in the relationship. Just sayin!

Messing up, but not messed up

He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.  The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. (Psalm 103:10-14 NLT)

It is indeed good news to know that God doesn't deal with out sin in a harsh or unkind way! Some of us have a negative view of what our heavenly father is like because their earthly father wasn't all that great - others recount the wonderful kindness of their earthly fathers and have no problem relating to God as kind and just. The truth is that God doesn't abandon us, he sees us through, no matter how "misbehaved" we may be, and he isn't going to let us outrun his mercy! Think on that one just a moment - he doesn't let us outrun his love or his grace...he pursues us with a tenacity that suggests we not only matter to him, we matter more than anything else in this whole wide world!

We "deserve" many things - not all of them are exactly what we might imagine! I know my actions have sometimes been less than positive, producing some pretty gnarly results. Those times didn't end well in the natural sense - requiring a whole lot of emotional, spiritual, relational, and/or physical "mop up" in order to move beyond them. God's grace does something miraculous out of the mess I create, though. In fact, when I look closely at what he is doing, I see that he is helping me to rise again - not to repeat those mistakes or take those missteps again, but to rise above and overcome those wrong actions.  While I find it hard to be patient with all the "not so perfect" things I do in this lifetime, hoping against hope that the outcome could have been just a little better, God is already at work helping to change the course of what I messed up.

A couple of words of hope this morning we can focus on as we begin our day:

- God isn't out to get us. Some of us think "fathers" are all about punishment or discipline. God operates on a little different plane, though. He asks for obedience - but he doesn't force us into obedience. He is just when he holds us accountable for our misdeeds, but he also provides a way for us to move away from those missteps and toward the right ones - it is called grace and it is administered in love.

- God isn't after our hide, he is after our heart. He asks for us to put a little "skin in the game" because he knows where we make such an investment of ourselves, we are likely to appreciate and enjoy the outcome much more than if everything was just handed to us on a silver platter. Our heart is made strong by the things we have to work a little harder for, not because "we" did it, but because we took the steps toward seeing his outcome perfected in us.

- God knows we cannot walk this thing out alone. He isn't going to abandon us to our own devices, nor is he going to tell us to work it out ourselves. He does ask us to take the steps we know to be right - this is common sense. He does require us to be obedient to what he reveals to us. But...he doesn't just set us loose and expect us to find our own way. He is there, gently guiding us back on course when we veer ever so slightly.

God is just. He is loving. He is compassionate toward our needs - even when they are there in our lives because we "messed up". Just sayin!

Mistakes = Miracle Making Ground

T.D. Jakes described his "mistakes" as the framework for his life's greatest miracles. I'd have to agree on that one, for all of life's mistakes are just missteps - opportunities to have done one thing, but choosing instead to do another. It might take some "redoing" of the steps, but mistakes can actually become the ground upon which God does his greatest work of growing us. We may not see mistakes in quite the same way at times - simply because we get down on ourselves and discount the value of these missed steps. It might not be until God actually begins to recreate the steps we had taken that we see the moment we took that wrong step. That moment in time is not what God brings to our memory so he can beat us up about those mistakes, but he does so in order to help us avoid that same trap the next time.

The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.  The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it.  When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.  The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.  The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.  (Psalm 145:13-19 NLT)

God might build upon our mistakes in ways we don't immediately see, though. It might take us some time to begin to see how he takes parts of those broken down places of our lives we label as "mistakes" and uses some of what others see as "rubble in those ruins" to bring something of monumental beauty in our lives. Not all that comes from our mistakes should be discarded and unused. In his hands of grace, those things others may label as "rubble" can become the most majestic of building blocks for something of even greater beauty and deeper strength than we ever imagined possible. I think this is what our psalmist may have in mind when he refers to God opening his hand and satisfying the hunger and thirst of every living thing. Mistakes leave us hungering - thirsting for God's grace. In his kindness, he uses those opportunities to grow us - we want to beat ourselves down - but he wants to build us up even when all we can offer to him is rubble.

Hiding mistakes never gets us anywhere. We can try as we might, but God knows those mistakes exist. He also is the only one totally able to pick out the pieces of those mistakes that will make the foundation of growth that ensures repeated failure will not occur. I think we try to manage our mistakes on our own, either because in our pride we are not willing to admit our wrongs to anyone (even God), or because if we admit them, we might actually have to assume some responsibility for them. Either way, God is kept out of the potential recovery from those mistakes until we humble ourselves enough to admit them, or we own up to them and acknowledge we had a part to play in the outcomes we are seeing.

While it may be hard to see mistakes as ground upon which miracles can take form, I think it is quite possible God's greatest works in our lives are done not in the absence of mistakes, but because of them! Just sayin!

Do I keep this or not?

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. (Scott Adams) When you see your reflection in the mirror, which mistakes do you actually see in that reflected image? When others see you, what mistakes do they observe? If Christ has become the center of your life, it is likely that what others see in us are those mistakes interwoven into the fiber of what we call "character" - displays of God's grace. These are the ones upon which God has applied a great big coating of grace until the mistake isn't prominent anymore, but his grace shines through.  As a result, they can now become prominent displays of his goodness and graciousness, not so much as flaws in our character, but as evidence of how God can use even what we see as the "worst" to become something of beauty and purpose in our lives. I have been pretty "creative" with my life at times, making some big mistakes, but God has always been faithful to let me see just how they can become these "artful" displays of his grace and goodness!

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. (James 4:10 NLT)

Much of what God uses in our lives isn't so much a matter of us making things better, or smoothing something over so we can move on - it is that God dealt with it head on and covered it with his grace! In counseling terms, this is where the rubber meets the road - the evidence that we take the problem we have created quite seriously and we then allow God to show us how to move beyond it. It is more than sweeping it under the rug - it is learning what took or turned us toward that specific point of making the mistake and then finding a way to block that pathway once and for all so we don't travel it again.

Most of the real work of dealing with our mistakes isn't that we admit we have them. It is admitting we need some help to get away from the consistent pattern of making them time and time again! It begins with humbling ourselves enough to acknowledge the mistake - to bring it to the foot of the cross - then to allow it to be dealt with as only Christ can - in grace. We might think we have a handle on our mistakes, choosing which ones to kind of just gloss over and move away from, but in "glossing over" any mistake, we run the risk of returning repeatedly to that same mistake.

We may not have to revisit all the ugliness of the mistake, but we need to allow Christ to show us what it is that even got us to that point in the first place. This is where we begin to see him "unravel" the events leading up to the place of our "mistake". It may not be as comfortable as we might want it to be, but nothing of value in our lives actually comes to us with ease! Humility is not an easy thing - for it might just require us to reach out from behind our "secret place" of dealing with the ugliness on our own to find help outside of ourselves. It definitely requires we acknowledge we have been on the wrong path - but it may also require us to seek help to build the blockade of defenses that will keep us from ever traveling that path again!

Some mistakes he makes pretty prominent displays in our lives, but it isn't to shame us - it is to show just how much grace can take a pretty ugly mess and turn it into something others can see as a thing of beauty and a place to find hope for their own "grace-filled artwork".  Just sayin!

Don't make your own mistakes

"A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether." (Roy H. Williams)  Are you smart, or wise?  According to Mr. Williams, we are wise if we learn from the mistakes of others!  I don't think he is far off in his statement.  Some of us are content making our own mistakes, essentially learning "the hard way".  I don't know about you, but it stands to reason if I can learn from YOUR mistake, I am much better off!

Words spoken wisely result in much good, and working with your hands pays a large reward.  Fools follow their own directions and think they are right, but wise people listen intently to advice.  (Proverbs 12:14-15 VOICE)

Not all of us are "content" to learn from what others have experienced, lived through, and perhaps "survived".  We just have to go and do it ourselves, believing the outcome will somehow be different just because we are the ones doing it.  Spoiler alert:  Most of the mistakes we will make in this lifetime have already been made by someone before us who thought the exact same way! I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but scripture is clear when it says there is nothing new under the sun!

Intent listening is often all we need to realize we don't need to travel down some path we might have been considering.  What is probably closer to reality is that we "hear" someone giving us the wisdom we need to avoid some of those hazards in our way, but we just don't act upon it.  For whatever reason, we just pursue the path in front of us rather than really "hearing" what awaits us if we do.  The process of hearing includes yielding to advice and direction which would help us avoid those hazards in the first place!

Two things to consider as we think about the "advice" we receive in life - the source of the advice and the point of comparison we use in evaluating the "worth" of the advice.  The source of the advice is important because not all sources are trustworthy.  We might find someone who sounds pretty intelligent by what they say, but when we begin to truthfully look into their "wisdom", we might just find some "shakiness" in their methods.  This is why it is important to keep in mind an accurate "measuring tool" by which we might evaluate the "soundness" of the advice we receive.

Scripture should be our first "measuring tool", but we also have the "check" of the Holy Spirit in our lives which may not be a "formal" as written words in a book, but is accurate nonetheless.  When we just don't get the right "feel", something is just slightly "off" with the advice we are hearing, it may be the Spirit of God within giving us that little "niggling" something just isn't right for us in that pursuit.  Scripture helps us have standards by which to "judge" or "measure" our steps.  The Holy Spirit within gives us that little "in the moment" check which we need to learn to hear and heed!  Just sayin!

Ugh! Another redo!

My daughter writes a blog about crafting.  As part of her blog, she takes numerous photos, posting the "how-to" images for those who might like to make something she has created.  It is a tremendous blog.  A few years ago when she undertook this endeavor, she began the process of posting these photos without realizing how much "space" they would occupy in her storage, the advantages to various forms of "naming" the photos, etc.  She didn't know what she didn't know.  Ever been there?  I think we all have.  Yesterday, she posted something about the hours and hours of work it was taking to "archive" her posts / photos and the necessary work of renaming some of them in order to aid in those interested in "searching" for various projects.  Obviously, she was frustrated with the "re-investment" of time this was taking - time which could have been spent engaging in other creative work.  I quickly messaged her back a short answer to her frustration:  "You learn from mistakes, not because you never make them."  Maybe this is a lesson we can all take to heart today.

If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.  (Proverbs 28:26 MSG)

Simply defined, a mistake is an error in calculation, action, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, and sometimes insufficient knowledge.  We all make them!  No one is immune.  It is what we do with our mistakes which really matter, isn't it?  Looking at the reasons for "making" mistakes as poor reasoning, carelessness, and/or insufficient knowledge, we can actually begin to see how we make them.  For example, if I choose the shiniest toy on the shelf without considering the quality with which it is constructed, I may have a shiny new toy, but it may not last for very long.  If I choose to express my opinion without thinking through the ramifications of where I share it, with whom it is shared, and what I am saying, the consequences can be devastating, right?  So, poor reasoning leads to errors in judgment, a lack of forethought leads to costly investments, and just plain not knowing accounts for a whole lot of headaches, doesn't it?

Our writer reminds us of the danger of thinking we are above making mistakes.  A word to the wise - no one is above making mistakes, BUT we can get to the point where we are no longer learning from them!  Sometimes we make mistakes by pure oversight - we just didn't "tune in" well enough to really consider our actions, words, thoughts, etc.  The "mistake" happened almost because we didn't tune in, not because we intended to engage in risky behavior.  Truth be told, most of us make mistakes because we have such an oversight - we don't deliberately set out to make them.  Some of the time, we do engage in risky behavior - for the thrill of it, because it brings us prestige of some kind, or just because there is something appealing to us.  When we pursue "risky" behavior or courses of action just because we want a thrill, hope to gain some attention, or the blatant disregard for well-defined rules, we are truly just magnifying the risky behavior to a place of even greater risk for us in the end.

Men and women of wisdom learn both from their own mistakes and those of others.  We do very little learning in life by avoiding our own errors.  If you have ever learned math, you know this to be true!  No one just magically taught you to reason through those word problems, sail through the division of fractions, or calculate the angle of the triangle.  In fact, you probably got back some papers with red marks on them, pointing out your "mistakes"!  You made the mistake, corrected it, and learned to solve the "problem" a different way.  Isn't this what life is really like - we make the mistakes, realize they need correction, and then learn to "solve the problem" a completely different way than we ever knew possible?  Fortunately, my daughter's "mistake" with her photos is a minor problem - costing her a little investment of time which she would rather have avoided - but a simple "fix".  There are all kinds of mistakes we make in life with a "higher price" affixed to them, aren't there? These are the ones involving miscalculations, really poor reasoning leading to really poor choices, and sometimes just not being any the wiser about the path we were taking.  These "cost" us in the end.

If we understand the "root" of the problem (miscalculation, poor reasoning, or insufficient knowledge), we might just be able to avoid the costly mistakes in life.  If we have already made them, there is something we need to avail ourselves of more than anything else - grace.  Grace wipes the slate clean. Grace gives us the ability to move beyond our mistakes and to "start again". It is a good thing to learn to avoid mistakes in the first place, but it is equally grand to know when we make them, grace abounds!  I didn't say "if" we make them, I said "when" we make them.  As long as we take breath on this earth, I think we bear the potential for making mistakes.  Just good to know God's grace is there when we need it!  Just sayin!