What would life be without mistakes?
Let me be clear from the beginning. I have made many mistakes during my life. I have made mistakes that I don’t even realize to this day. Even the ones I know, I can’t remember very clearly.
Mistakes are part of life. Unfortunately, some people believe that they live their entire lives without making mistakes.
That is mistake number one.
I am where I am today because of the mistakes in my life. I have learned a lot from my mistakes, except that I have not learned not to make more mistakes.
If someone hasn’t made mistakes in life, they should give that award to the Graceful Mistress of the Parsonage. Perhaps the closest he got to making a mistake was marrying me, but that certainly wasn’t my mistake at all. Marrying her was the best choice I’ve ever made.
I guess he makes mistakes, but he knows how to correct them before anyone notices. I wish I knew how he does that.
Those who think that they do not make mistakes in life are deluding themselves and are not really living.
I remember several years ago a mistake I made. I planned to fill my truck with gas for the week. It was clearly empty. I never should have let it get that low, but I did.
As I was driving to the gas station, I thought of something I needed to pick up at Publix, which was on its way. So I stopped and went in and bought the item I wanted and then went out to get in my truck and go get gas.
When I turned the key to start the engine, it would not start. I didn’t know what to do at the time. I tried my best to start it but nothing I did managed to start it.
So, I looked at the fuel tank gauge and saw that it had passed empty, and according to that, the truck was out of gas.
That was a big mistake. That mistake brought me a terrible consequence.
I sat in the van for a few moments looking at my cell phone. He knew what he had to do, but he didn’t want to do it. Within a few minutes, I tried to start it again and got the same result.
Sitting quietly in the van, I kept looking at my cell phone. I had no choice at the time. He had to do what he had to do.
So, I called the Graceful Mistress of the Parsonage.
“Honey,” I said as sweetly as possible, which is above my salary, “could you get a can of gas and bring it to me? I’m here at Publix.”
I heard silence on the other end, and then I heard laughter.
“Are you telling me,” he said, trying not to chuckle, “that your truck ran out of gas?”
Of course, he knew the answer to that question, but he used it to poke me.
“No,” I said sarcastically, “I just want to know if you can bring me a can of gas at Publix.”
I think he could hear the frustration in my voice.
That certainly was another mistake added to the first mistake.
“Oh,” he said, “maybe I can get there in about three hours.”
I heard her laugh on the phone. I pretended I didn’t hear her laugh, which was another mistake.
I hung up the phone and sat in my truck thinking I had to wait three hours for her to come with the gas for the truck.
On my fourth deep breath, I saw my wife driving her truck and parking right next to my truck. I saw her through the window with the biggest smile I had ever seen her wear.
He got out of his truck and said, “Is this the truck that ran out of gas?”
At this point, I had exhausted all my mistakes and only nodded soberly in the affirmative.
He got a can of gas out of his van and set it down next to my truck. I picked it up and emptied it into the gas tank of my truck.
When I was done, I returned the can to his truck and closed the door. Then I looked at her and just said, “Thank you so much for her help.”
She chuckled and said, “Do you think you should go and fill up your truck with gas now?”
Since he was no longer making mistakes at this point, I said, “I’m going to fill this truck up with as much gas as I can right now.”
I took my time going to the gas station and filling up my truck because I knew I would experience the next stage of my wife laughing at my mistake as soon as I got home.
My biggest lessons come from the mistakes I’ve made. But the lessons only come when I deal with the error and correct it.
I like what David said: “Who can understand his mistakes? Cleanse me from my hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12).
It is one thing to deal with the mistakes that are made, but another thing to clean up from the secret faults. So I’m learning to deal with the mistakes I don’t know I’m making every day.
