Accepting Mistakes

It is so easy to pass the blame when things do not go the way I want them to, the way I expect them to, or the way they should. Whenever something goes wrong in my life, big or small (usually small), the first thing I do is look for a place to attribute blame. Who was not doing their job? Surely, it wasn't that I screwed up.

This morning for the second time this week I woke up, just as the bell was sounding for Morning Prayer (that means 5 minutes to be there or be late). Of course, I spent the first 3 minutes berating fate for making morning come so early. Then, as I was scrambling to get dressed, I found my scape goat for today. It must have been that the medication I took last night made me so groggy that I forgot to get up when I turned off my alarm clock. I must have turned off the alarm and gone directly back to sleep. It would have been so much easier to just admit that I did not want to get up in the morning and had turned off the alarm rather than hit the snooze. It would have been easier but then I also would have to take some of the blame and accept once again that I am human. That calls for humility.

Daily I pray for the courage and humility to be able to accept that I do screw up sometimes (that's part of being human). It is not the end of the world but it is part of my reality.

Sr. Catherine, OSB