Word of the Day: Mistake

I had an appointment this morning and instead of taking a book, I took my latest knitting project. This is a new thing for me - I've been crocheting for almost 15 years, but knitting only since last November. I'd like to think I'm getting better, but then something catastrophic happened... I dropped a stitch. I was talking with the nice receptionist and I didn't feel it slide off the end of my needle and within a couple of minutes, I saw it drop down two more rows.

In crochet, if you make a mistake, you just pull the yarn out back to the place you need to correct, find your place in the pattern, and keep going. In knitting, it's just not that simple. A mistake often means knitting backward, stitch by stitch, until you get to the place where your mistake is. When you drop a stitch, you either have to fix it right away or anchor it so that it doesn't get away from you. I usually use a crochet hook to pull the stitch back into place - no crochet hook today - or use to stitch marker or safety pin to hold it in place - nope, didn't have that either.

So by the time I got home, it was a real mess. I started tinking (knitting backward) for realized that it would take several hours, so I did the almost unimaginable, I pulled out 11 rows of stitches and gingerly rethreaded my project on my needles to start the color change again.

This was a great reminder of why knitting is still an emotional chore for me. The price of making a mistake is high, and it takes a crazy amount of time to fix it. In fact, if I didn't love this yarn so much, I might have stuffed it in a bag to come back to another time.

But I couldn't give up, so I came home, settled into my comfortable chair, and did the work necessary to get back on the right track. And in the future, I won't get over the end of my skis... my friends may be able to knit without seeming to look, but I am a long way from being about to do that myself.

So why am I sharing this? Because it made me mindful of how hard it is to admit making a mistake. We know that when we acknowledge it, we'll have to go back and do a lot of hard work to make things right. Recognizing our mistakes often means admitting wrongdoing or ignorance, owning the mistake, apologizing and going about the long and arduous task of making things right. Even then, big mistakes are not something that we ever really forget. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to show you where my scarf went off the rails... even though you would never be able to tell.

As a Christian pastor, part of my job is to claim the prophetic mantle, as uncomfortable as it is most days. I am absolutely positive that I have made many mistakes that I have never recognized, confessed or corrected... bad on me. Sometimes it takes a true friend to say to me, "Deb, I think you have some work to do here." But when I have messed things up, I hope that it's been my practice to make things right, the best I can. And if I haven't always done it well, I hope I've learned important lessons to help me in the future.

We live in perilous times, and I have been thinking lately that I should turn off the news, stop reading and only think of happy things. But my faith requires me to stay connected and to speak out when I see a place where Jesus' teachings and Christian traditions can help us stay true to our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ.

I will often post articles, book suggestions, photos, and memes which reflect my experience of a faithful response. Trust me, I weigh very carefully what I share. And even if we disagree, I hope that we continue our friendship in love, acknowledging that none of us can ever have the whole picture alone.

It's just another way I am reminded that being a pastor is not just a job - it's a way of life.

Here's my advice for the day: Be gentle with one another. Let us own our mistakes and work to make things right. And let us do it all in a spirit of love.

Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, June 19, 2018