The Tribune

Sunday service is usually my weekend's highlight. I'm prepped for "Warfare, Worship and a Word" that I can meditate on for the coming week. This Sunday, the stage was set - prayers had been prayed, songs had been sung and the Man of God was just as anointed and eloquent as ever.

And me? I benefitted nothing from it. This Sunday service was awful for me. I came in, gave an offering, hugged a few friends, and in the midst of this activity, I promptly lost my car key. What followed was one of the most harrowing moments of my life. A few members, ushers and myself formed a search party that went under benches, into back rooms and finally outside to the car. Much to my chagrin, an announcement was even made from the pulpit. (This amazing support, as embarrassing as it was, was the high point of the ordeal).

Once the key was returned to me, I made a vow to have it firmly tucked away in my purse from here on in.

Don't you wish all slip ups could be handled as easily. You make them, you learn your lesson and you move on.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works out sometimes.

Oh, we are definitely going to make mistakes, and most of us even try to move on. But, a lot of times we allow the pain of committing the mistake to cloud the teachable moment.

I firmly believe that every error is an opportunity toward excellence, if handled correctly.

Some steps we can take together, in God's sufficient Grace and with His strength, to make each mishap a stepping stone include:

1. Identify the Root

2. Single out your flaws, (Yes, Mr and Mrs Wonderful, I said flaws)

3. Trust yourself as judge and jury, and in some cases, executioner

4. Assist yourself with some outside encouragement

Now, discerning readers would have noticed I left out the first step in flipping any flop and here it is - mastering the blame game!

On Sunday, I was all up in arms, wondering who would move someone else's things? Or, be so nonchalant as to pick up another person's belongings?

Finally, I realised if I had placed the key where it belonged, I could have avoided the entire fiasco. The blame was mine.

As a self-protective measure, we often look for someone else to blame when something goes wrong. We "finger point" ourselves out of any culpability whatsoever.

This series has encouraged me to be intolerant of persons who always have someone else to blame. And I certainly don't want to be that person myself.

The thing is, we can't ever see the positive lesson in any mishap, or Flip any Flop if we are unwilling to accept our part in a mistake. When we accept responsibility for our missteps, we give ourselves room to grow and challenge ourselves to change.

If someone else is always at fault then you're really saying:

1. I can't make my own decisions... they made it

2. I gave away my personal power... they have it

3. I'm too immature to grow and move forward on my own... they made the move, I just followed.

Gen. 6:6 shares that there came a time when God, Himself, was sorry that he made man.

I am always amazed that the Creator of the Universe would be apologetic, for something that He did, even momentarily.

That gives me all the strength I need to honestly admit my many flops, and take steps toward flipping them - correcting the behavior, now and into the future.

There is less chance of repeating a mistake if you're willing to admit you made one in the first place.

God bless you this week!