Best lesson is to learn from your mistakes

"We all make many mistakes ..."

- James 3:2 (NLT)

A good friend of mine just made a major purchase, only to feel she made a mistake. She blew most of her savings and was devastated by the way things turned out.

I often wonder what causes us to make a mistake? A mistake is caused by an error in judgment and can have costly consequences. I've listed a few possibilities that could cause us to misjudge.

Being a perfectionist or being afraid to step out and take a risk can cause a mistake. We may be afraid to take a chance on anything because all conditions aren't perfect. Our holding back may cause us to miss a blessing.

The opposite of holding back is acting on impulse and not calculating the consequences. We want to jump on the opportunity, but in our haste don't see any of the warning signs. My friend feels she didn't pray about her purchase and acted on impulse.

Some mistakes are simply unavoidable in our ignorance. We didn't do them intentionally, we just didn't know any better. They are life's learning curves.

There are different ways we make mistakes. Many are not made by our actions, but with our words.

I believe God uses our mistakes to help us look at ourselves to see where we need emotional and spiritual growth and development.

The wisest thing about mistakes is that we can learn from them, move on and avoid making the same ones the next time around. And, better yet, we can learn from the mistakes of others and avoid making them ourselves.

The good news regarding mistakes is when we make one, we can dust ourselves off and try again. We can ask God to correct the wrongs and give us the strength to avoid making the same one again.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.