Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6:34

It is easy to spend much of your time beating up on yourself for past mistakes and what you will do tomorrow. You analyze that relationship that failed and relentlessly review all the things you did wrong, or you look at that business decision that will cost you so much and dwell on the things you could have done better. Once and for all, stop being so hard on yourself. You are a human being, and human beings have been designed to make mistakes. The person who never made a mistake never made anything. As long you don’t keep making the same errors and you have good judgment to let your past serve you, you will be on the right track. Accept your mistakes and move on. Take one day at a time. As Mark Twain wrote, “we should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it- and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. It will never sit down on a hot stove lid again-and that is well; but also it will never sit down on a cold one anymore.”

Coming to the realization that everyone makes mistakes and that they are essential to growth and progress is liberating. You can never be perfect. Only God is perfect. Abandon the need to be perfect and adopt a saner way of viewing your life. Be humble as Jesus teaches. Repent of your sins but move on. Don’t fret or fuss about the future. It is in God’s hands. Only then can you begin to flow through life the way a mountain stream flows through a leafy forest, powerfully yet gracefully.

Then and only then, can you be at peace with yourself. Be patient, and put all your cares in God’s hands.
“Tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough problems of its own.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy

* * Do not miss tomorrow’s blog on Humility by Author Unknown * * *