My two right feet

It's not easy to face the fact that flawless will never be used to describe me.

Lately, I've felt like I've been messing up so much—and I have. I have made so many careless mistakes that have either left me in binds or in pain of some sort.

And—what's even worse—these things not only make me look like a complete fool, but they make me feel like one, as well.

Let's start with a couple of examples from last week. When I drove to school on Tuesday morning, I reached into my bag to get my keys. The pocket where they always are was empty. Shast. I went on to search every pocket in my bag (and there are quite a lot), and they never turned up. I had a feeling I knew exactly where they were, and that location was useless to me in this moment.

Now, it wouldn't be completely awful if I weren't the first person to arrive at the school every day. I open both the school building and the field house, and I like getting there early enough to make sure I get a few things done before track practice. So, what did I get to do on this particular morning? I got to wait in my car and play Moxie on my phone until the softball coach showed up. Thankfully she gets there a little before our practice starts, but it still wasn't enough time for me to accomplish everything I really needed to do.

And that was definitely my own fault.

When I borrowed her keys to go unlock the school and the classroom where I teach, my keys were just where I thought: sitting on the desk. Blast.

On Thursday of last week, I caused myself more physical pain than necessary. You see, I woke up a little later than usual that morning (not sure how I managed that one), but I still was able to get my run in and shower. However, I was super pressed for time and packed my bag almost completely in the dark and in a frenzy. I was excited about wearing my favorite pair of brown boots, though, and I shoved them in my bag along with the rest of my outfit for the day.

The definition of uncomfortable

After track, I had to rush yet again, because we had a faculty meeting, and I had less than 10 minutes to change and scurry over to the main building. As I pulled one of my boots out of the bag, a thought crossed my mind: Wait, I didn't pack these boots. Then I pulled out the other boot, which actually belonged to the correct pair I planned on wearing. Now, this wouldn't have been so horrible if they hadn't both been right-footed boots.

Are you kidding me?!

You might be wondering why didn't I just wear the shoes I wore to track. Well, they were cold and sopping wet from the field outside, because there had been so much dew. So, I wore the two right boots. I was even four minutes late to the faculty meeting, because it took me so long to hobble across the parking lot, writhing with every step I took.

Then came the mockery.

Some of my coworkers already make fun of me (in the nice way, of course) enough already without me going and making some screwball mistake like this. Needless to say, they really had some fun with this one.

I won't describe the blister that ensued from this ridiculous incident.

Again, this was all the fault of me.

Overall, I would have to say that last week was just rough, in general. I did so many more things in error—leaving my contacts in when I went to sleep one night, forgetting to write a recommendation letter for a student (thankfully it’s not due until next week, and I did it early this week), leaving the cap off of my gas tank and not noticing until in my rearview mirror I saw it dangling from the side of my car (while I was on the freeway, of course), typing an entire paper for grad class on the wrong subject because I had looked at the incorrect week, and getting a huge rip in my shirt and scratch on my stomach because I thought I could squeeze through a barbed-wire fence without getting nicked up (I’ve done this before, so I figured I could again—negative).

Again, all of these things were my own doing, and there is no one else to blame. I really hate it when that’s the case.

At the end of the week, however, I reflected on all of the things that I “ruined” in the prior days, and they didn’t seem as bad as they did at the time they happened. In fact, most of them actually seemed pretty meaningless. Sure, I was super frustrated for short periods of time, but somehow things always managed to work out OK. I mean, the fact that I survived the most uncomfortable shoe situation and didn’t ruin my already sensitive hip area shows that one small mistake doesn’t always make a person’s world come crashing down in utter disaster.

It just goes to show how God’s grace is always at work. Do mistakes sometimes end in worse cases? Absolutely. But, even when they do, He is always there to offer His forgiveness. It’s not like locking myself out of the school means I am the worst teacher/coach in the world and won’t keep my job much longer; wearing the wrong shoes doesn’t mean I’m cursed forever; cutting myself on a fence doesn’t mean I’m a complete klutz (though this is actually debatable) who is prone to self-destruction; and completing the wrong assignment isn’t the worst thing, either—at least I’m prepared for when it’s actually due, right?

The point is, we are all flawed. Even the most seemingly perfect people (not me) are going to mess up. Just when we think things are going so great for us, something bad could happen. Mistakes can plague us at any point in time.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

We can’t be perfect. The only perfect One is the Savior who opens His arms when we experience those imperfections, and He reminds us that He gave everything for us, and He will always be there to offer His mercy and grace when we need it most.

Accept that you are going to mess up. Accept His love—it’s completely worth all of the mistakes you will ever make in your life to know that pure and holy love will shadow over everything you’ve ever done wrong.