Stumble

Stumble......to trip or momentarily lose balance; almost fall.

Well....what about that? Stumbling is not the same as falling. Seems to me it's the precursor to actually falling. A week ago I stumbled really good. I was with a new trainee and we were having a teaching moment In a patient room. Next thing you know I "stumble" on apparently what was a bed sheet, then, can't get my balance and keep stumbling until my head was almost in the trash can. My momentum got the best of me and I kind of pulled my back in the process. My trainee just stood there not sure how to respond, but I took the stress from him, and started laughing at myself. Then he joined in. I told him later he will have a good story later in life when he reflects on his first day on the job. I was just glad my family didn't witness it cause they know how dopey I am and would laugh real good. In fact when I told my husband of it he asked...."you mean this was one of your dopey moments"? Haha.....he knows me well. But in all that stumbling I didn't ever fall.

Now....looking at James 3:2a......"we all stumble in many ways." When I read this I thought of my stumbling last week. I also thought of my spiritual stumbling. I read and try to live by the word, but life and circumstances get in the way. This is no excuse, just facts. So....when we stumble as this verse says, we offend God. We fail miserably in doing what's right.....constantly. This does not mean we fall completely.....because when we fall completely I picture hitting the ground hard....like I almost did. Maybe breaking a bone or two. When we fall completely we are down for awhile. At this point some give up. But, We need to recover. Broken bones take time to mend....and if the cast is not set properly, they heal wrong, causing more problems down the road. But if the cast is set properly, they can mend and heal properly.

So how do we fix it? Well....what I would think, is most of us know already what makes us stumble. Sometimes things creep up on us like that sheet did to me. I didn't see it coming. I wasn't prepared. However, when we are aware of the things we stumble with, We can avoid them, or tell a friend about it so they can hold us accountable, and ask God to cleanse us.....

Proper healing is only found in God. According to this verse none of us are exempt from not stumbling. Again, we have a choice.

We can be prepared and pay better attention to our surroundings. Only then we will be able to persevere.