the mistake about mistakes

Spiritual resource to share: corrections

I was thinking about mistakes today and realized that there are a few mistakes about mistakes that need clearing up.

1. The first misconception to reverse is that mistakes define us.

Have you ever thought that something you did caused enough harm to define you for life? An article was written by an individual who was freed from the idea that her life was forever marred by the past mistakes made when she realized that God created her life -- it was ever new. Mistakes don't define us. God does. God is the one who maintains and sustains us. Our "willingness to become as a little child" and to honor God's constant creation helps us really get what is new! Our decision to live aright can begin now and this claim of our God given authority over sin, disease and death defines us.

2. The second misconception is that mistakes confine us.

Have you ever felt that some mistake that you or another has made severeely limited your experience? A couple years ago, I made a major mistake with my son’s airline ticket and it looked as if his longed for trip overseas would have to be cancelled. But when I was able to see that all things are possible to God and to forgive myself for making such an error, I was able to move on and listen for ideas that helped restore the trip. And in three days, he was able to go on that trip overseas.

God governs our lives. God is the source of all activity, harmony and bliss! The only activity that comes from a mistake is the adjustment or correction that is needed.A mistake is by definition an absence of something good. Let’s shorten that. A mistake is an absence – a nothingness. So there is really nothing that can confine us.

3. The last misconception to tackle is that mistakes refine us.

Sometimes there is a notion that God sends us obstacles to strengthen us. This seems incongruous with a loving God. It isn't the mistake or the obstacle that causes us to grow. It is the yearning for more of our freedom that causes us to grow.

The only activity required of a mistake is its correction! If we are trying to find a cause for some mistake we will either tire of this line of reasoning, or realize that the correct answer (or correct view of man) is the only answer and the only way out of the most perplexing questions. Our patience, persistence and grace refine us.


Mistakes can be corrected. Forgiveness helps to wipe away whatever influence we have given to these mistakes and clears our path to see God working on our behalf to restore justice, well-being and health.


To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.