Epic Fail!

Ever had an epic fail?

Sure you have! Something really public... something really big... I think all of us have had them. I've certainly had a few in glass work.

For example, this piece will never see the light of day! There are numerous 1-3mm gaps in it. The glass is beautiful, but it just didn't fit together right.

I've had other kinds of failures in glass work, too. Like the day I dropped a piece of glass and tried to catch it in my fingers. Ouch! You'd think I'd know better by now!




Well, today I've had an epic failure. We had so much good help in unloading our moving truck upon our arrival here in New Mexico! I wanted to thank the folks that helped, so I invited one group of them over for lunch today. All these men work together, and one of them is a friend's son, so we sent the invitation through the friend. It was set for lunchtime today.

I prepared pulled pork for sandwiches, coleslaw, green beans, and brownies (baked at high altitude... still working on that!). We bought some lemonade and sweet tea, and we set up an extra table. I had everything ready by noon, when we expected they would have lunch break.

And we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And

waited.

By 12:30, I was worrying they weren't coming. I fed my daughter and myself, still hopeful that the trucks would pull in any minute.

By 12:45, my husband ate, finally believing they might not come. At 1:15, I released the cats from their basement jail and started cleaning up the food.

Epic Fail.

I don't know exactly what went wrong. There are many possibilities. And a decade ago, I would've been searching through those possibilities, trying to figure it out. Two decades ago, I would've been sure that they didn't come because they didn't like me/us. Three decades ago, I would have been a muddle of tears, blaming myself for the entire fiasco.

Today?

Today I am sure that, no matter what went wrong, I had my heart in the right place. We invited these men, hoping to honor their hard work with a meal. I wanted to be welcoming and thankful.

And I was.

Even without anyone to welcome or thank, my heart was welcoming and thankful. Even though there was  a lot of time and money invested in this lunch, none of it was "wasted." I approached the meal with the right attitude, and I approached the disappointment of no guests with an attitude of gratitude to God that we have enough to share. That if the men walk in the door tomorrow, expecting lunch, I would laugh with them and get out the leftovers from today.

I've had some epic failures that left me feeling worthless and wasted. I'm sure you have, too. I am blessed by now being in a place in my life where my value isn't determined by how successful I am, or by how the plans I make turn out. I pray that you are reaching a point in your life where you can see your value, even when there's an epic failure. Because you are God's precious child; the only you in existence...ever. Trust God, even in your epic fails.