Thought for the Month

Epiphany Sunday

On Epiphany Sunday in church, Sarah talked about when the wise men were looking for the baby Jesus. They misread the signs and made a mistake and went into Herod’s palace looking for a wealthy prince, instead of following the star to the stable. The very next day on the Today programme, I woke up to some politician being harangued by John Humphries, getting him to try and admit that he had made a mistake.  I don’t know how many times he was asked but each time the answer was a sidestep. For a politician this would be career suicide.

Why is it so difficult to admit we have gone wrong?

Anyone over 50 may well have been at school when humiliation was the rule – standing on your chair was our general punishment for getting an answer wrong in our times tables tests and we lived in fear of getting found out. Is it any wonder that we hide our mistakes?

Even now, when the atmosphere in school is to reward effort, rather than the right answer – every child knows when you say “ You’re thinking carefully today” or “that was a good try” – that the answer was wrong!

We live in a time when success is all. We are expected to do well – mistakes flag up the fact that we have failed.

One common reaction to a mistake is to try and hide it – in the short term this may well be an answer but we all know that sooner or later we will be found out. The other reaction is to refuse to accept that we have made a mistake or to blame someone else for it. How much easier it would be, if we could just stand back, hold our hands up and say “I’ve messed up here”?

If we are going to lead a life that has any kind of depth and value we are going to make mistakes – it would be a poor life if we only ever did things we were certain would turn out right. And when we do mess up, we need to spend some time with our errors, learning from them before we can throw them away.

Lent starts in February this year and it is an opportunity for us to have a good hard look at ourselves and where we have gone wrong. Rather than being a time of weeping and gnashing of teeth, this can be a time of sadness but also a time when we learn about ourselves and grow up a little more. We rest in the knowledge that God already knows what has gone wrong for us and is waiting for us to return to him, where we know we will receive forgiveness and compassion. It is a good pattern for us to follow in our own relationships, accepting each other’s frailties (and maybe an apology!) and giving another human being the chance to start again.

Wishing you a fruitful and restorative Lent!

Lynn