Mistakes

by Naomi B.
from Virtuous Daughters, February 2013~Volume 12, Number 11

“A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong; which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” (anonymous)
  
   We all make mistakes—maybe it’s saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, letting the supper burn, sewing without thread, etc.! However, we can learn from those mistakes. For example, if you forget to set the timer and supper burns, you will learn from your mistake to set the timer next time!

   We should never be ashamed, as the saying says, to admit that we made a mistake. Although it is not pleasant for our flesh to admit that we were in the wrong, it is still important. Prideful people do not like to take advice, and then, when they make a mistake, also do not like to admit they were in the wrong.

   We could say the next day after letting the supper burn that you are wiser today than you were yesterday, because today you will set the timer—wisely!

   Let’s take a Bible example, the Prodigal Son: “A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country: and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants:” (Luke 15:11–19)
 
   Well, you know the rest of the story—the son comes home, and receives a glad welcome from his dad. But, you may be wondering, what was the prodigal son’s mistake?

   The prodigal son thought that what was outside of his home was better than what was in it. He thought that “the outside” held more fun than the dreary, working, home-life. But he made a terrible mistake. However, he learned from that mistake, and had his older brother decided to do the same, he could have warned him. He made the mistake of thinking that he knew best. But, of course, his dad was right.

   So you see, we may make dreadful mistakes (and we will), but always, if we look, we will find some good to come out of them, something that can and will benefit us in the future. We, as Christians, can never lose something without gaining something better—more faith, more trust, and more knowledge upon what we had formerly been unlearned about—but we need to accept that, and if we are willing, God will give us something better. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5–6)

   Hopefully, none of us will ever make a bad mistake—thinking that we know better than God, and eventually ending up out of the will of God. But let’s remember that we “should never be afraid to own that” we “were in the wrong,” and that we can also count on God to help us to be humble. He is ready and waiting for us to ask Him for His help.