Getting it wrong

Yesterday was a big day, It was the trip to Ikea

The big trip, the one where we were buying all the stuff for my daughter’s move to University. A big trip in so many ways, and I wanted to get it right because I have never driven to Ikea, I have been a passenger but never driven, and given I am not from this part of the world the phrase “North circular “ fills me with fear.



So I prepared. I did what my husband does and I thought about it in advance I looked it up and I put it in the SAT NAV hours before we set off,  finally I was doing the grown up thing and not just jumping in the car and setting off  stressed and harassed.

But ( and you knew there was a but with me , because there always is) I typed in the wrong Ikea, and instead of the nearest one at Tottenham Hale I went to the furtherest away one in Wembley. 

We did get there and it was a good day, but it took 3 hours to get home and I ended up driving more of the North Circular than I ever, ever want to again.



I got it wrong.



This morning I took the dog to the groomers and was told off for not brushing her often enough ( it didn’t seem the place to protest that I sat up with her the night before in a thunderstorm). I got it wrong.



Sometimes we feel we never do anything right.



But then there was Jacob in the morning’s reading from Genesis. Jacob had stolen his brother’s birthright and run away- now that is seriously getting it wrong. Yet God speaks to him telling him he will fulfil his destiny and will love and protect him.



So the message is, we do get it wrong, sometimes we get it badly wrong and we can curl up with guilt and beat ourselves up about it, but God still loves us, he still thinks we are worth the trouble. That’s the thing to focus on, and we’ll get it right next time.



”And there was the Lord standing beside him.“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac,” he said. “I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying. They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations.Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you.”