“It’s your only excuse,” said my wife — “that you’re growing.”
A little context. I’m a
pastor and I’ve found there are notable things in me that still require
honing. We’re all on a journey, and none
of us are perfect. As a pastor, not
unlike some other professions, there’s no place to hide, and nor should there
be, when it comes to character and integrity.
The latest iteration of growth set by God for me involved how I saw
others, and inevitably how I also saw me.
We can muse about the humility of our journey, but the circumstances of
our lives are the final judge.
When my wife mentioned these words above, I was amazed at their
wisdom. Suddenly, I imagined God saying
those very words — that any moral failure we make is okay, if we’re
growing. A very operative word there is
“if.”
In other words, what’s past is past, but what’s ahead we can
still influence. Our pasts can be
forgiven us, but in our present and future are opportunities to either continue
along the wrong path, or to make a course correction — now.
I had had a massive course correction. That’s okay.
What’s life if we are never significantly re-directed. Of course, there are those who live wisely
enough to only need the gentlest of nudges — not me.
Failure really is fine, provided there is impetus to improve,
not that we’ll be anything close to being perfect.
God’s work of grace heals faulty vessels, broken by
dysfunctional life, surrendered through injustice and humiliation.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
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