I Flunked Sabbath

I flunked Sabbath this week.  Oh sure there are a million good excuses, but the bottom line is, I cooked (poorly I might add), I totally redid my bedroom, I swapped my winter wardrobe out for my summer wardrobe (and am now freezing to death by the by!) and I watched television to relax.

I did absolutely nothing edifying, nothing restful, nothing healthy...SIGH

I don't even understand why there is an "F" in the grading system frankly.  Why do we have A-B-C-D and then F!  Would an "E" not have been bad enough hanging there just below a "D"?  Must our world insist that when we fail at something it is so heinous that we have to go two letters beneath the last below average grade? Is it because Fail and Flunk both start with F so someone assumed that if you aren't bright enough to at least achieve a D- they better make it an "F" for Fail so the dimwitted realize they Flunked and their Future is Futile!?!

Oh sure some people say, we'll give you an "E" for effort, but those are usually grandmas and really nice people, who aren't in charge of grading you at all!  There's no "E" for effort.  THERE"S NO "E" FOR EFFORT!  (Read this like Tom Hanks in "League of  Their Own" please!..."there's no crying in baseball!")

This weekend we heard the story of Jesus forgiving Peter.  Peter who had just betrayed him 3 times.  In Luke it says after the third betrayal, Jesus turned and looked right at him.  Ouch...Oh Peter your heart must have broken and you must have felt like such a failure.  Then the Gospel of John gives us this resurrection story where Jesus pulls Peter aside to speak with him.  Can you imagine the shame and trepidation he must have been feeling?  But Jesus gives him 3 chances to answer yes, to the question, "Do you love me?"  One for each of the betrayals.

Jesus came  to turn all of our big fat "Fs" around.  No longer are we burdened with wearing the yoke of "FAILURE, but the joy of FORGIVENESS"  I still flunked Sabbath, but it is a gift that I can reclaim this week, and besides, Jesus has made it so "failure" is just a bump in the road, not a place I have to live!