Admitting a Mistake

Sometimes as human beings we get things wrong!

Sometimes we can get things wrong and keep quiet about it because nobody knows about a decision we’ve made that has unforeseen consequences or complications only for us personally.  Nobody else needs to know.

There are other times when we make a decision that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time but that we realise, in the light of subsequent facts, or events was a bad decision, or perhaps not the most helpful decision: and cannot keep quiet about our mistake because the decision was made public.  This is especially the case when that decision is posted about in two separate blogs and announced on Facebook!

Ooops!

A few weeks ago I made the decision to fast from Facebook for Lent: and that this would not just be a negative giving up of something but a positive move in that I would use the time for theological reading and reflection and spending time physically with family and friends, instead of virtually on Facebook!

It’s been less than a week and I have realised that, for me, the decision was a bad one.  I hadn’t realised how much I would miss the daily interaction with friends that Facebook enables.  I hadn’t thought about all the opportunities to pray for others that Facebook brings.  I hadn’t actually thought that should I come down with a ferocious cold bug and have to stay in the Manse; a cold bug that has severely limited my concentration and intellectual prowess to watching TV and using social media.

Or to put it another way, I’m ill and bored and I need something to keep me from being bored!

No doubt some well-meaning friends and family will mock me gently and tell me they knew that it couldn’t last.  That’s OK.  I made a bad decision and now I’m admitting it and changing my mind.