Repeated Mistakes

Every year about this time, the dead flowers are removed from this flower bed at an office building near me, leaving a wide brown swath of dirt for a few days. Then some fall flowers are planted to replace the ones that don’t thrive in this spot where hey get full sun.

This year, they did add the elephant ear, which have done pretty well. But for some reason, each spring the flowers of choice are ones that really would prefer a shadier location.

Do you ever repeat the same old mistakes, year after year, month after month, even day after day? I know I do.

Sometimes I plead ignorance—I just don’t realize that what I’m doing is dumb, or wrong, or hurtful to someone I love. Other times, I know that my actions are not pleasing to God, but I choose to continue because I’m weak. Or just because, deep down, I don’t want to change.

But the good news is that God can help us avoid making the same mistakes over and over again, if we ask. King David wrote in Psalm 19: 12-13, “Who can notice every mistake? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep me from sinning. Do not let anyone gain control over me. Then I will be blameless, and I will be free from any great offense” (GWT).

Not only will He keep us from sinning, but He will forgive even those offenses that no one else knows about. And once He forgives, we become sin-free in God’s eyes.

Instead of planting the same flowers in the wrong place, I’m going to ask God to help me plant beautiful flowers in the right places—in the lives of others. I trust Him to change my heart so that I want to make the effort to control my tongue, my mind, and my heart.

What repeated mistake will you ask Him to help you with today?

What Makes a Story?

Telling a story in six words is not easy, but Ernest Hemingway did it once: "For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn."

Proverbs 31 Ministries is sponsoring a contest. To enter, you have to write a six-word story. The winner gets a scholarship to attend the She Speaks Conference: http://shespeaksconference.com/.

Since this is a fabulous conference, and I love a challenge, I had to enter. I came up with several ideas:

Lost: female cobra. May be pregnant.
Don't go in. Snake is loose.
Found my snake. Please come home.
Survived earthquake. Can I come home?
Watching for lost son. He's coming!
Survived earthquake alone. Coming home.

This got me thinking about what makes a story. We know that a story needs a plot and, of course, characters. It also needs a crisis, a climax and a conclusion. The character needs to show change and, in the Christian market, positive growth. How do you put all that into six words? Hemingway's example does.

Plot: A woman gets pregnant and prepares for the baby.
Character: The mother, presumably, though it could have been the father placing the 'for sale' ad.
Crisis: Baby is born sick or is stillborn.
Climax: Baby dies.
Conclusion: Parents find the strength to move on, to sell the items prepared for the baby that were never used.
One could draw various scenarios from this story, but the basic elements would not change. And no matter how you interpret the story, there is an emotional connection.

So I analyzed my six-word story ideas and found that most of them were missing one or more of these elements. After further brainstorming, I came up with two more:

1. Home alone. Cold. Started fire. Homeless.
The unknown character, possibly a young person, is home, unsupervised. Wanting heat, he (or she) attempts to start a fire, which gets out of control and destroys the house. Now the person is homeless. Not a bad plot, certainly dramatic and emotional, but it doesn't show a character arc. The conclusion, that the person has no place to go, does not tell us that he learned anything (other than not to build a fire unless you know what you're doing!). This story ends with no satisfying conclusion. It leaves us wondering where he will go and what he will do.

2. Regret leaving. Survived earthquake. Coming home.
In this case, the person left home, perhaps out of anger or perhaps, like the biblical prodigal son, searching for something better. A crisis occurred--an earthquake, which he barely escaped with his life. Going through that situation changed him and caused him to realize his mistake. The resolution: he is coming home in hopes of reconciling with his family. Since I'm the author, I know these things. Did you read it the same way?

This is the "story" I submitted. Do you agree that it was the best choice of the nine ideas I've listed here? Or do you think I should have chosen a different one?

P.S. You can read other entries here: http://www.shereads.org/2011/04/she-speaks-scholarship-contest/