I’ve been reading Charles Grodin’s book If I Only Knew Then … Learning from our Mistakes. It is a wonderful book, in which Grodin asked various people from the worlds of entertainment, sports, business, and politics to reflect upon their greatest mistake in life and what they learned from it.

One of the reflections that I like the best is from the author Gil Schwartz. I’d like to share a brief portion of it. Schwartz writes:

“There are all kinds of mistakes: little ones that slip off your back like water from the feathers of an arctic gull, midsize errors that seem to disappear for a while, then pop up like a mole from an unexpected hole in the tundra of everyday life, big ones that make you stop for a moment and wonder where all those precious brain cells you were once so proud of might have gone.

And then there are the mistakes that are more than simple missteps of one size or another: acts that in themselves reveal yawning flaws in your character and make you wish that time in its haste would stand still, turn, and give you one critical moment back. These are the mistakes that can only be learned from. Knowledge gathered does not erase the mistake, for in its essence it is something done that cannot be undone. Hopefully, however, some insights may be gained, some sour, bitter slice of wisdom that, in future, can be drawn on to minimize the chances that one may stray so far from the light again.”

I love those opening paragraphs, because they lift up the truth that even in our weakest moments, there is still strength to be found, wisdom to be gained, and of course, God’s grace to be received.