Are mistakes possible? We often say, “I made a mistake.” Yet, most Judeo-Christian religions believe God makes no mistakes.
If there are no mistakes, can we even define the word “mistake”? What would the definition be?
If God makes no mistakes that means your child with a heart defect was not a mistake, hurricane Sandy destroying your home was not a mistake, your friend’s terminal cancer is not a mistake, the loss of your job is not a mistake. No matter what horrible event or experience has come into your life, it’s no mistake.
How do you, I, we deal with this idea?
If nothing is a mistake, there must be a reason for everything. A mistake implies that someone has done something wrong–and if you haven’t, someone has done it to you. God? If God makes no mistakes, at the very least, it must be okay for events to unfold as they do or have. Or else, in each situation lies some opportunity for you.
Maybe the opportunity can be found in learning to see the perfection in every situation–even when it seems so far from perfect. Maybe the opportunity lies in learning to accept what is–to not stress, worry or get upset, instead, to simply know all is well and is just as it should be.
There’s a freedom in knowing God, or some Higher Power, has it all handled. Or that in some way everything is working out.
Faith. Trust. It’s all perfect. There are no mistakes.
You are in the right place at the right time–even when where you find yourself seems totally, terribly wrong.
Can you accept this idea or do you think God makes mistakes? Do you have a definition for “mistake”?
When I was young, it was hard for me to accept that there were no mistakes. I had all the usual questions: why do people die in natural disasters? Why was there a Holocaust?
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen all sorts of “terrible” events turn into beautiful things. People who dug deep into their hidden greatness in response to their own or other people’s suffering. People who married after the Holocaust who would never have met under “normal” circumstances.
Also, if you believe this life is the end of everything, it’s harder to accept. But if you believe in either reincarnation or in an afterlife, or both, there’s always the understanding that the final measure will come beyond what we can see with our eyes.
Rebecca,
Yes, a belief in something more–God, a Divine plan, an afterlife, or reincarnation–does make a difference in how we view “mistakes.”