The Pooch, Screwed

Have you ever been in a situation when you realize that a course of action you have followed or an assumption that you have been operating under turned out to be false? What's more, has that happened when you were utterly convinced of the correctness of your previous position? Now, couple with that the possibility that said mistake may have far-reaching consequences that may shift the very make-up of your future life. I'll tell ya, it's not an enjoyable position to be in. And yet it seems to be one that is unavoidable. How can you know you aren't seeing the whole picture when at the time your vision seems so clear, especially when you have done all you can to see it from every angle? How can you know that your version of reality doesn't quite line up with what's actually going on?

The answer: you can't (?). It seems to me that that's what life is all about. You just do the best you can with what you have at the time. If it turns out that your best took you down the wrong path, so be it. And when you reach the end of that path and realize that you just screwed the pooch, then yeah, it sucks, but all you can really do is turn around and find your way back to another open door.

But the beauty of all this is: this is really what it's all about! This is the process that is so often referred to as "living life." Making mistakes is an essential part of living. That doesn't necessarily make it any easier when the light bulb turns on (especially for the big ones), but it is comforting to know that it's expected of you. So much is it an expectation that God sent His Son to die just to make sure we could get out of the mires we create for ourselves. The atonement is not only there for our sins, it's there for our weaknesses, illnesses, sufferings, AND our mistakes. What God has asked of each of us upon sending us here is simply, "Do you best." He knows we are short-sighted, impassioned, lazy, and selfish. Therefore he knows our "best" is only going to get us so far in life. However, He does require it of us. And when we have done all that we can do, we enable Him to reach down and rearrange the furniture (giving it a little more feng shui).

I screwed the pooch. But I can honestly say, I did the best I could with what I had. It's time to start walking back and trust that God will open a door for me.