Ok so today, I'm not really addressing a "confession" but more of a discussion topic....a question!
Now please bear with me. Maybe what I am about to lay out is only a question in
my mind, maybe I am over thinking this whole thing.... Don't get me wrong as I thought about it this, it did cross my mind that people would think I'm trying to come up with some new "doctrine" or systematic way to make people feel better, but it my mind it's a very
REAL, Legit question.
Do we really make mistakes?
Ok, now like I said...it sounds
silly at first. But here are the things I was thinking about today. First of all we tell my clients at work all the time that there are "natural consequences" for their choices: Don't take a shower for a week and smell, your peers don't want to be around you. Natural consequence. Elope from the building and don't get to eat supper, you end up hungry later. Natural consequence. So there are several things we don't "punish" them for because their own natural consequence is enough.
Now lets take for example the young girl who is unmarried, choses to be intimate with her boyfriend, and gets pregnant. Of course natural consequence. BUT...why then do people say things such as, "It's ok, we all make mistakes, yours comes with a blessing." She made a choice, was it a mistake? Or simply a choice? The result therein you will never convince me is a mistake because
NO CHILD is a mistake...but why do "we" (generally speaking) view the choice to engage as a mistake. Was it right before God? No, but was it a mistake? He knows the choices we make before we make them right? Again maybe I'm over analyzing... maybe my job has tainted how I view things?
Even when I view things I have done in my past and I tell myself that I don't have regrets because every
CHOICE I made, made me who I am, I have to ask, did I make mistakes tho? Or were they just choices? Can it be both?
Here is the definition (dictionary.com) of each:
CHOICE:
| 1. | an act or instance of choosing; selection: Her choice of a computer was made after months of research. His parents were not happy with his choice of friends. |
| 2. | the right, power, or opportunity to choose; option: The child had no choice about going to school. |
| 3. | the person or thing chosen or eligible to be chosen: This book is my choice. He is one of many choices for the award. |
| 4. | an alternative: There is another choice. |
MISTAKE:
| 1. | an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc. |
| 2. | a misunderstanding or misconception. |
–verb (used with object) | 3. | to regard or identify wrongly as something or someone else: I mistook him for the mayor. |
| 4. | to understand, interpret, or evaluate wrongly; misunderstand; misinterpret. |
–verb (used without object) And so I sit today, thinking, pondering, and searching within........
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ReplyDeleteCas...I think this is a very good question to ask. Often times we think of things we have done wrong as mistakes but other things that we could have done differently as choices. When I think of my life I can think of some things in my life I would have considered mistakes, but, I also would have called them choices. I made the wrong choicie which was therefore a mistake. So, I would have to say that it would be both. In life when we have a choice to make, and we later find that we made the wrong choice and would have been better or safer with the other choice then we view that choice as poor and a mistake. We made the mistake of making the wrong choice. I think often times we view these mistakes/wrong choices on the consequences as you mentioned. Often times we need to see the consequences of our actions or our choice before we decide or have it revealed to us that something was "right" or "wrong." That goes along with the pregnancy...they might have thought they made the right decision to have premarital sex because they were safe and they loved each other; however, when they realized they were expecting a baby they thought about their choice and realized maybe it was the wrong choice/mistake because they were not ready to be parents yet. I dont necessarily think that thinking getting pregnant as a mistake is a bad thing because I dont think you are saying the baby is a mistake, just that the action causing the baby to come into the circumstances wasnt probably the best, therefore the timing was a mistake on the people having sex. Anyways...ultimately I would say that choice and mistake are kind of viewed in a way as the same things depending on the circumstances, but ultimately, I would agree with you and say that it is the wrong choice or the mistakes which help mold us and shape us into the people we should be, because without those, we wouldnt have a reason to change.
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