We should all encourage ourselves to learn from our mistakes and failures. Political Activist Dorothy McCall says, “One cannot have wisdom without living life.” We are human and prone to make mistakes. We throw ourselves into the business of living naturally. This means that we will stumble and fall occasionally. Real people living real lives make mistakes and experience failure. It is what we do with our mistakes and failures that makes the difference. If we get caught in the perfectionist’s lament of “if I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all”. Or we berate ourselves to such an extent that we’re too frightened to try new things. If we do that, we’re not learning the valuable lessons inherent in our setbacks.
If we realize that perfection does not tolerate mistakes, whereas excellence incorporates mistakes and learns from them, we can toss perfectionism in the garbage and learn value from failure. We’re here to learn. With a small change of attitude, moving from the need to appear perfect to a willingness to see mistakes as opportunities for great growth and learning, we can make our lives so much more fun.
If we decide to commit to excellence instead of perfection, we will welcome mistakes and let them shed light on our progressive path toward wisdom.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Nelda
Reverend Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine is pastor at First United Methodist Church of Kennedale PO BOX 146 – 229 W 4th St. Kennedale, TX 76060
