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We all want to start the year off right.
A new year and a fresh start sounds so delightful. We set goals and make resolutions that we will likely forget (sometimes intentionally) within a few weeks.
We want to . . .
Get up earlier.
Be more productive.
Become healthier.
Make more money.
Parent wiser.
Grow spiritually.
Sleep better.
Scroll less.
Read more.
Reduce clutter.
Organize the house.
Be more patient.
Have more family time.
And on and on with things we think will make our lives better in a new year.
Yet we know we are bound to mess up, forget our goals, fall back in to old habits, and feel guilty about it all.
We will make mistakes. The new year, like the old, will be full of them. We will fall to one side or the other of the narrow line of perfection.
But maybe we need to make certain mistakes. Maybe, when we don’t know the right decision, we can choose the “better” mistakes- the ones that put people first, that show unconditional (maybe unreasonable) love, that make us look “kind to a fault.”
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8.
So, if we must err (and often we must), let us err on the side of
grace rather than judgement,
mercy rather than justice,
compassion rather than condescension,
love rather than lecture,
trust rather than doubt,
faith rather than fear,
forgiveness rather than anger.
Will our hearts be more vulnerable to loss and pain? Will we be taken advantage of? Oh, yes. But, oh the joy that comes with loving others unconditionally and becoming more like Jesus!
Can we ever really take love too far?
We will make plenty of mistakes in the new year, but in these? Let us choose to be wrong on the side of love.
“By this will all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
No one who really knows me will ever think I love perfectly, but I want them to remember God’s unconditional love through mine. Oh, I still mess up so much in this, but I am striving to make the right kinds of mistakes this new year. Join me, dear servant of Christ.
Err on the side of love.
For more about God’s grace see Is God’s Grace Really Enough? or Good Grief: God’s Grace for Each Moment in Grief.
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