So yesterday I got right up, had my coffee and a yogurt, dressed and was off for my dentist appointment. I arrived there at eight thirty for an eight forty-five appointment (I'm always early. I get that from my dad). After unbundling - earband, hat, mittens, coat and settling into my book, the receptionist poked her head around the corner, "Barb," she said, "What are you doing here?"
"I have an appointmet. It's the tenth, isn't it?"
She consulted her computer, looked up, and said, "MARCH tenth, honey."
I bundled back up and went home, had another cup of coffee, finished the daily puzzles, wrote my blog for the day, and, of course, adjusted my calender for March. Don't know how I got that wrong. Must have just not been paying attention when I wrote it in my Day Runner.
I am usually pretty good about keeping my calendar in order. I try to keep Birthdays too. But just because I write the Birthday in doesn't mean that I am going to remember to do something about it. I am really bad about Birthday greetings. AND I have been known to miss lunch dates completely. Just blow them off. Be in the car on the way to anywhere, look at my watch and realize I shoud have had lunch with 'x' an hour earlier. Those gaffs are really hard to face. I haven't done that in quite a while because the last one was such an embarrassment.
Life is full of mistakes. Seems like I make more than my share. And I chew over them horribly for days, tieing myself up in knots, condemning my poor behavior, and generally being in a huge funk. Then I remember about grace and forgiveness. God forgives everything. I remind myself that having made the amends that I could, I just need to forgive myself and move forward.
Forgiveness is freeing.
