God Can Make Our Accidents and Mistakes Shine

September 3, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes I capture my best photos by accident. I didn’t even realize I caught the cardinal above in flight until I checked the shot later. Woohoo! Gotta love it when accidents shine like that, huh?

Other times while trying to focus a shot, I take the picture prematurely. But every now and then, my mistake looks perfect. Evidently, the camera captures it in mid-focus at just the right moment. I can’t take credit for it, but I sure do celebrate it.

No, it’s not me that makes something good out of my foul-ups. God’s the one who can make my accidents or mistakes shine. And not just where photography’s concerned.

In spite of numerous parenting mistakes, God used my efforts and grew our daughters into the amazing women they are today. When it comes to marriage, God has kept Don and me together through all the ups and downs despite our many shortcomings. He even blesses with shining results in lesser things—like when my baking efforts hit an unexpected snag or when I take a wrong turn.

On a worldwide scale, we’ve all heard about inventions and medical discoveries that happened by accident. The world has benefited by penicillin for years now thanks to one of Dr. Fleming’s petri dishes that got contaminated with mold. God made that accident shine indeed, didn’t he?

Our accidents or mistakes may not have such far-reaching effect as penicillin, but isn’t it good to know that God can take our missteps—and even our sins—and make something good out of them? He is not only a great Creator, he is a great Redeemer as well. He can make us shine. And I sure do celebrate that.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

*When has God made an accident or mistake of yours shine?

*The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter with a giveaway in every regularly scheduled issue, will come out in early November. Sign-up is FREE. *Temporary problem with Life Notes sign-up. To sign up, just contact me.

*For info about my book Mother of the Bride check out my Books/My Work page.

*My photo

Filed Under: accident, action, celebrate, creation/creative/creator, encouragement, grace, help, life, mercy, mistake, new thing, photo fun, praise, redeem, refresh, shine, success, victory Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wedding Invitations: Proofread Again and Again

February 6, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Mother of the Bride, I have some very important advice for you today: Be sure to proofread the copy for the wedding invitation very carefully before sending it off to the printer. And after you’ve proofread it once, proof it again—and again. Oh, and did I mention proofreading it? You get the idea, right?

As you might have guessed, my oldest daughter and I experienced a proofreading fail while planning her wedding. Talk about a sinking feeling when we discovered the mistake—yes, on the actual invitations.

We had both proofread the invitation copy before sending it to the printer, but we still missed seeing a misspelling. Since our eyes were familiar with the name, they evidently sailed right past it as we read the copy. We failed to look the copy over very slowly and very carefully. And yes, it cost us. Lesson learned.

So, MOB, learn from our mistake and proofread like crazy. Both you and the bride proofread the invitation multiple times and then ask someone else to proofread it too. Believe me, being a stickler for details this time will save you valuable dollars and an extra helping of stress. Here’s to no invitation mistakes as you plan for your daughter’s big day!

*You might also like to read A Keepsake Photo of the Wedding Invitation.

*For info about my book Mother of the Bride and also my Wedding Inspiration cards, check out my Books/My Work page.

*The new issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter with a giveaway in every regularly scheduled issue, came out last week. It’s not too late to receive it. Sign-up is free! Temporary problem with Life Notes sign-up. To sign up, just contact me.

*Flickr photo by Jase Lam, Creative Commons License

Filed Under: Above and Beyond, action, advice, bride, change, disaster, focus, frustration, inventory, learn, life, mistake, money, Mother of the Bride, wedding, wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wedding Planning Advice: Give Yourself the Gift of Easy

September 5, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Mother of the Bride, if you’re like I was while in wedding planning mode, you’re all about saving a dollar or two (or ten!) every chance you get, right? Your mental calculator runs non-stop, causing you to continually feel the pressure of mounting expenses. You begin to look for every way you can to save a little money. But you know what? Sometimes it’s not worth it.

My first time around the MOB block, I decided we should forgo the pre-cut tulle circles we wanted to use for making the favors—little bags of chocolate candies tied with pretty ribbon. In an attempt to save some dollars, I decided we could cut our own circles of tulle.

Big mistake. At a time when both the bride and I had more to do than we had time, we had to push ourselves even more. Yes, believe it or not, the tulle circle-cutting fairies did not show up at nighttime to cut the circles for us.

My decision to cut costs ended up costing us in other ways—in time, in stress, and in weariness. The dollars saved were definitely not worth it.

Learn from my mistake, dear MOB. Carefully weigh all the costs before making more work for yourself or the bride. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give yourself the gift of easy.

*You might also like to read A Simple Wedding Expense Tip, Mothers of the Bride Need Prayer, and Gather Photos Early for Wedding Day Slide Show.

*For info about my book Mother of the Bride check out my Books/My Work page.

*The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter with a giveaway in every regularly scheduled issue, will come out in early November. Sign-up is FREE. *Temporary problem with Life Notes sign-up. To sign up, just contact me.

*Flickr photo by FutUnBeidl, Creative Commons License

Filed Under: advice, balance, bride, encouragement, Gift, giving, help, kindness, learn, life, money, Mother of the Bride, preparation, rest, simplify, stress, time, wedding, wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,