Try Try Again

           We all make mistakes, but no one likes to admit it. Some of us even get anxious and fearful of having to admit a mistake. Why?

In my ballet and tap classes, I encourage my dancers to make mistakes and not be perfect. That is how they improve. I don’t want my dancers fearing a mistake so much that they don’t try something new.  I’d rather them try and fail than never try. I constantly tell them “I don’t care if you’re not perfect. I just care that you try your best.”  But I often don’t take my own advice. How often do I shirk back for fear of being wrong or making a mistake? And when I do make a mistake, why am I so reticent to admit my own failings?

            I once worked with someone who would treat every mistake (on others’ parts) as a call to arms, and would begin a game plan for how to handle the contingency that allowed that particular slip up. It was a very hard environment to work in, because every mistake you made became a huge deal. We began to fear the repercussions before even making a minor error. This usually led to more problems, because we weren’t confidently performing our duties.  

            Clearly no one wants to ever be wrong, or to make a mistake. It is human nature to strive for perfection, though we will never obtain it.  But making mistakes is a part of life. It is going to happen. The key is how we handle them. Do we freak out over every error? Do we brush them off and repeat our mistakes? Do we retreat to the chocolate and Diet Coke? I think the answer is to learn from them without beating ourselves up. God doesn’t enjoy our imperfections, but He does work with them, without stressing over a new policy or procedure for every mistake we can or will ever make. Throughout the Bible we are given examples of people (normal humans) who make mistakes and God works through it. Just look at the life of David! We are also given examples of people who do things that could easily become mistakes, such as Esther. How different would her story (and the bigger picture of God’s story) be if she had gotten scared of making a mistake, and allowed that fear to stop her (God’s) plan?

            At the end of the day, I don’t want to hear “You were perfect.” I want to hear “’Well done, good and faithful servant.’ You tried your best, and you let Me take care of the rest.” And drank a lot of Diet Coke in the process. :)