I’m a word girl. When I have to look at too many numbers, I go a bit cross-eyed. And I tend to make mistakes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to count and recount things because I couldn’t get the same answer twice. Even with a calculator! Of course most of those wranglings have been on my own, with no one the wiser. But on occasion my number sense (or lack of it) shows up in a more public domain and I find myself red-faced and apologizing profusely.
Like this week, when I realized I’d miscounted on sending out contest entries to be judged. And I realized it on the day of the deadline. Half a dozen entries didn’t get to their judges until hours before I needed them back with scores and comments. Not good.
Fortunately, all involved offered grace upon grace. So much so that it pricked a bit of guilt for my own grumblings over the inadvertent mistakes of others. It was a good reminder that we all have weaknesses, places in which we need the grace of others more often. That’s not a bad thing. It teaches me humility, though sometimes it feels like humiliation! And this time, I gained a new understanding of God’s power being perfected in my weakness. (2 Cor 12:9) I always thought that meant His strength in me would overcome the weakness. And sometimes it does mean that. But this week I recognized that He also shows Himself strong by the way others—brothers and sisters in Christ—respond to my weaknesses. How else but by the power of the Holy Spirit can a person be gracious in the face of others’ mistakes?
So I will not berate myself for my weaknesses, though I do all I can to shore them up. For the Lord steps in and makes things right when my efforts fail, sometimes showing His power in me, sometimes in others. Maybe that’s why He gave me a chef and a math teacher as children!