Oops, I Did it Again

Totally ripped that title off Britney Spears...

I'm going to post 3 recent FaithWriters pieces I did lately. I really do like this one. After the judging was complete, someone in the group sent me a note saying, "Congratulations! You placed 11th in the Beginners!" My first thought was "yay!" But then I went back and counted just how many entries there were - there were 30. Yeah, I'm not going to get too excited about this one...That's like saying, "Congratulations! You didn't lose as bad as half the entrants did!"

We were supposed to write about or at least include the subject of "oops."

Oops, I Did it Again

Several years ago, when Brittney Spears came out with her silly song entitled, “Oops, I Did it Again” I couldn’t help but chuckle - not at the song, but how it reminded me of my own life and my plethora of “oops” moments.
　
I have long thought that my life contains way more “oops” moments than the average person’s. I still cringe as I remember some of those stand-out experiences. There was the time I dropped a hymnal over the balcony at church - during the pastor’s benediction. There was the time in 4th grade music class when our teacher instructed us to remain silent during one part of “Silver Bells” and let the piano fill in as we practiced for our Christmas program. Everyone caught that instruction but me, and when we got to that part of the song, I sung a solo! I still can’t listen to “Silver Bells” today without remembering that! There was the time I slid across the college dining hall in my high heeled shoes. I managed to grab onto a bar supporting the tray counter, which saved me from doing a face plant into the wall - but it wasn’t enough to save me from my own humiliation and the laughter of my fellow collegians! It was also that same year that I decided dressing in the early-morning dark had its drawbacks - when I showed up in class wearing a black skirt with navy hose! I was never more embarrassed, when, as a new mom, I had to take my 6 month old into the ER because I had accidentally poisoned him with his brother’s high-dose prescription medicine (in my defense, I was bone tired - both boys sat with their mouths open, I had two spoons, one with medicine, and one with baby cereal - it could have happened to anyone - right?).
But honestly, as klutzy and air-headed as my experiences show me to be, I can live with these kind of oops moments! Someday, I’m sure I’ll be able to laugh about them! But what I can’t laugh about are the other “oops” moments that occur in my life. There are the harsh words I’ve spoken to my husband, children and others. There are the times I’ve slandered people with my gossip. There are the times that I haven’t made the phone call or visit that I should have. And there are the moments when I had the perfect opportunity to share Christ with someone and I didn’t.
Those “oops” moments are the ones I regret and strive not to repeat. But, unfortunately, being human, I do. That’s why I appreciate so much the words in Lamentations 3:22- 23: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”* I may really mess things up, but God doesn’t hold it against me. He forgives and we start over. God doesn’t cringe when he thinks of me and how I sinned, like I do when I think of my “oops” moments. Every day is new opportunity to start fresh and clean with the Lord. What a Faithful God we have!
　
*quotation from New King James Bible translation