Mistake-Free Life

 When you see people making mistakes, how tolerant are you?  How about when it is your own mistakes...what happens to your tolerance-meter then?

If you are anything like me, I am more willing to forgive the mistakes of others than my own.  I mean...I just keep beating myself up about the things I've done wrong...I couldn't even tell you.  I'm especially harsh on myself when it comes to mistakes I make in my pitiful career as a Mother.  

Yesterday, as we celebrated the blessings of Motherhood, I couldn't help but feeling sorry for my sons.  I so wish they have had a better Mom.  They could have done so much better.  Instead, they are stuck with me...sigh...

My little devotional reading this morning said gave me a different perspective about the whole mistake-condemnation-theory.  The part that really got me was this:  "Thinking that you should live an error-free life is symptomatic of pride.  Your failures can be a source of blessing, humbling you and giving you empathy for other people in their weaknesses.  Best of all, failure highlights your dependence on Me." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

WOW...

Pride...

How many things I do boil down to acts of pride...

Even things that I think I do to be better might be just inspired not by a desire to seek a closer walk with Jesus, but to make me look better in the eyes of those around me...inspired by pride...  And to top it all, in my obsession with being mistake-free, I'm actually distancing myself from my source of strength, power and love!  By insisting on being perfect, I am believing that it is up to me.  Therefore, I am walking away from the only place where I need to be:  under His Wings...fully dependent on Him...and more inclined to serving His beloved with compassion and empathy.  

I pray that the Holy Spirit will show me the path to humility, away from pride, so my actions, mistakes and all, may be, indeed, a source of great blessing not just for me, but for those around me.  May Our Heavenly Father shower us with His Love, Mercy and Forgiveness so we can stay inside His Strong Tower where the Only One Perfect is Him.  In the Precious Name of Jesus.  Amen!