As I was sitting in church yesterday, in the middle of hearing the sermon for the second time, it hit me. I had forgotten to blog this past week. I had been busy with work and my personal life that I completely forgot to blog. This may seem like a trivial delimma as not many people read my blog and I utilize it for the fun of sharing my thoughts, but I immediately got annoyed at myself.
I had told myself that during Lent I would blog once a week. I wanted to discipline myself to write more since I one day hope to write a book. So I immediately took a break from taking sermon notes and started jotting down notes on what I would blog about. I figured I could take the children's lesson they were interacting with on the story of Mary and Martha and how distractions, though they may be good things, can prevent us from doing what God has called us to do. I decided against that because blogging weekly was my own decision not something that God has called me to do.
I spent most of the day debating what I should write about until I mentioned this situation to my wonderful, intelligent, wife. She immediately rolled her eyes--as I often cause her to do-- and said "Don't be so legalistic." Just four words that so many of us desperately need to hear. Words that Jesus often scolded the Pharisees and Sadusees with. We get so caught up in the legalism that we forget the original intent for the decision or law. There is Grace for mistakes. That doesn't mean stop trying or give up in the name of grace for that is what Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace. There is still a place for trying, but failing every now and then is not the end. In fact it can often teach us more about ourselves then constant success can.
So when you fail this week don't get caught up in self pity, but instead ask yourself what you can learn from your failure. Failure is one of the first steps to success, right after risk. Grace and Peace.
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