Screw Up

  My philosopher son Isaac, now ten, gives me great things to think about. On vacation to the Outer Banks, NC one year, he made a great observation. His grandfather had given him the assignment of tightening all the wood screws in the deck furniture that needed it. With great eagerness he went work, after a little while he came up to me and said, “Dad, I like screwing things up!” When I stopped laughing I started to realize a simple truth in what Isaac said. To me “screwing things up” is a bad thing, something I’m all too familiar with. To my son the same phrase meant something totally different and was a pleasant moment. Sometimes, we need to look at situations in a different light; we might be surprised at what we find. Our mistakes are huge opportunities to grow and become stronger as we let the Spirit mold us.

I think screw-ups come with huge honking choices…the kind that make or break your spirit. We will repent? Will we forgive? Will we open our eyes to the things that need to change in our lives? Will we allow people to help us deal with our screw-ups? Will we surrender to His will and pass on our own?

Tough questions…there are probably dozens more we can ask during the time spent on the floor of mistakes. Here is one that I am asking more and more (since I make so many mistakes).

“Father, what do you what me to learn, what do I need to see
like you do?”

That question has helped me get off the mat of self-pity many times, helping to realize that mistakes are not relational deal killers with God. My response to screw-ups depends a lot on my response to Him…to the answers I give to those questions. That’s where the growth and the change begin in our heart…the moment of surrender.

I don’t think I can say with enthusiasm like Isaac that I like screwing things up but…surrendering afterwards is getting less screwy for me.

Peace,
Jay

Open my eyes so that I may behold wondrous things. Psalm 119:18

“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.” - Henry Ford