We Do Mistakes...But Love Remains

Every household has them...people.  With people, comes people who make mistakes.  All of my life, I can look back at the times I made what my parents would classify as big and small mistakes.  There are the times I didn't want to share...didn't want to cooperate with others...didn't want to go to bed though it was past my bedtime.  I spilled glasses of juice and even a plate of pancakes with syrup...you can believe we were grounded from eating in the living room for a long time after that incident!  As a teenager, I spent late hours talking on the phone to my boyfriend well past my bedtime.  We all made mistakes.  My parents made mistakes, my sister made mistakes, and I certainly made mistakes.  Some we dealt with well...others, not so well.

Fast forward several years, and I have made even more mistakes.  I do mean some BIG mistakes.  In my first marriage, I can see so clearly now what I refused to see back then.  I didn't leave room for my first husband to make mistakes, because he was suppose to be perfect.  He was suppose to fulfill my needs and give 100% to our marriage.  I focused on his mistakes and I overlooked my own.  I made so many mistakes...I was far from perfect and I did not give 100% to our marriage.  To children's ministry?  Yes.  To other people I felt needed me more?  Yes.  To my 'me time'?  Yes.  I neglected the man I was suppose to love, honor, and cherish.  Our marriage ended with even more mistakes.  Mistakes that many think I will never bounce back from.

Now we find our home in Jonesboro, and I am married to a wonderful man who has also made mistakes.  He has a lot of hindsight moments (I will leave that up to him to share for another time).  Even sitting in our church this past Sunday, listening to a sermon titled, "Act Like A Man" brought Adam to tears.  We don't know what life is supposed to look like after the mistakes we've made.  How can you make something right that was so wrong?

As our children grow, we want them to understand that mistakes happen.  Some affect others, while some only affect our own hearts and relationship with God.   We want them to understand it is our mistakes that caused God to send His one and only Son to save us from our sin.  The ugliness in our hearts.  I certainly never want my children to be sorry for their mistakes because it offends me more than I want them to be broken because it offends God.  

There are people in the Bible that made some big mistakes and it followed them for the duration of their time on this earth.  Adam and Eve...chose to trust Satan over God's words and were banished from the garden.  Abraham...took matters into his own hands to have a son and it cost him a relationship with Ishmael.  Jacob...lied and tricked his father into receiving the birthright...he had to move to a new land and never saw his mother again (he also dealt with lies from his own children that lasted most of his life).  David...slept with another man's wife and killed her husband and lost a child as a result as well as had trouble in his household.  Hopefully, you get my point.  So many made mistakes and yet, God never left.  He may have stayed silent for awhile...but He never gave up on His covenant with His people.

I want to be mindful of how I deal with mistakes in other people's lives.  My children are watching.  Watching to see how I respond to other people's shortcomings.  Do I have road rage when someone accidentally swerves in my lane?  And yet, I have been guilty of doing the same thing to another driver.  Do I respond to other people who have sinned with grace and compassion as I prayerfully urge them to run back to the arms of God?  Or do I look down my nose at them because I don't see how anyone could make 'that' kind of mistake?  My children see these things.  I pray they never feel they cannot approach me with mistakes they have made because they have seen how I deal with the same situations with other people.  I want this home to be a safe place to 'do real' and 'do mistakes'.  

In our home, mistakes will happen.  We want our children to understand that though they will mess up at times...we will love them through their mistakes.  We will pray with them as they struggle with getting back on the right path.  We will encourage them as they seek God's forgiveness and restoration.  We will not withhold forgiveness (I will save that for an upcoming post).  We want our children to know that we have made mistakes, we WILL make mistakes....they have made mistakes, they WILL make mistakes.  But one thing remains...We do love in our home.  And love covers over a multitude of sins.

'We Do Mistakes' doesn't give us a free pass to mess up on purpose and ask for forgiveness later.  It just acknowledges that 'All have sinned and fallen short of the the glory of God' (Romans 3:23)...we try to make wise choices...but when we don't, love remains...no matter what!