How Do We Learn from Past Mistakes?

Have you known someone who refused to take responsibility to do a special task out of fear of making a mistake that they assumed would be unforgivable? Mistakes are a vital component to learning in addition to being a primary source for understanding what to avoid in the future.

Learning from mistakes is linked to accountability, which in turn is connected to maturing throughout life. In the American Civil War of the 1860’s Robert E. Lee, commander of the Southern forces, made a choice that led to his defeat at Gettysburg.

For Lee, it was a lesson too late for learning, but for most people it is not too late to learn from bad choices. 

God promises if you accept accountability, he will give you knowledge and understanding that enable you to change your life’s pathway. Accountability means learning from mistakes, taking responsibility for them, and then applying corrective action to ensure they will not be repeated.  

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Whoever conceals their sins will not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

~Proverbs 28:13 New International Version

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How Does Being Accountable Reflect Maturity?

There is a reason that unhealthy choices culminate in someone’s becoming a victim of a fractured relationship. Being perplexed when a relationship fails is acceptable but placing the blame entirely on others only delays what’s inescapable.

What this does is delay accountability that must be faced. The more inclined a person is to make excuses for failure, the greater the probability for repeating bad choices. The pathway to healing must be by way of true sorrow and accountability.

An attitude that reflects accountability for bad choices says, “I am to blame, and I will make amends instead of making excuses and blaming others.” Being accountable is the pathway to integrity and relationships that are healthy. So it’s okay to ask, “What did I do to cause this suffering and pain?” If this is an honest question, God will make answers available that will change your life. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart!                  

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Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were  better and another worse.

~Galatians 5:25-26 The Message

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Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week.