On Clumsiness and God’s Grace

I am suspicious of anyone who refuses to even consider the idea that God has a sense of humor, because I am 99% convinced that He does.

To illustrate my point, I will first tell you this:

I am a very clumsy and forgetful person.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always felt like I had two left feet – and we’re not just talking about dancing here, people!  I recall many a time growing up where I would come home from school with knees full of bruises.  My dad would jump to conclusions – “Are you being bullied?”, “Do I need to call your school’s principal?”  No, Dad – I just have the strangest combination of a love for soccer and jump rope and an equally fervent, but mostly subconscious, passion for falling.

In middle school, I’d find myself tripping into other peoples’ lockers or slipping out of my chair.  Every award ceremony I’d been to for school, I always managed to either leave the stage the wrong way, fumble when shaking someone’s hand, say “You’re welcome” instead of “Thank you,” or completely and accidentally snub the person handing me the award.  Unfortunately, this habit continued into high school.

Whether it’s flat ground with a good grip or slippery ground full of obstacles, I’ll probably find a way to trip over it in equal measures.  It’s a Divine comedy that I love to do things like climb trees, ice skate, and get to the higher peak on an uncertain mountain terrain, and also have a penchant for clumsiness.  It’s an absolute miracle I’ve never at least broken a bone.

I also tend to have a pretty selective memory.  I can write a book on all the personal details, quirks, and histories of the people I’ve met in my life, and yet if you ask me to recall an important plot point from a novel I read a few years back, I’ll probably not even remember the main character’s name.  I’ve lost many a coat, scarf, and hat thanks to my not-so-impeccable memory.

Since becoming a Christian, I’ve begun to notice that, despite all of the things my clumsy body is capable of getting me into, I’ve been protected a great deal.  A few days ago, I spent a whole day forgetting this or forgetting that with numerous kind people returning them to me, or barely dodging doors or walls if not for the helpful warnings of passersby, finding myself with too many things to carry and then someone coming up to me to help, and even a most disturbing thing – I was working on a lathe and had forgotten the chuck in the spindle (the part that spins the piece you’re working on) when I turned on the machine.  That fairly heavy chuck could have easily flew out of the spindle with incredible acceleration and hit me, but it just barely missed my foot.

I was so overwhelmed by peoples’ kindness and my uncanny amount of luck – both of which I had never experienced before – that I raised my hands up to the sky and said, “God, I can’t take all this graciousness anymore.”

Ironically, today I found myself making all manner of mistakes and getting myself into all kinds of confusion.  My clumsiness and forgetfulness each reared their ugly heads as they always do and this time, I wasn’t spared from the consequences.  I’ve been running around a lot today, forgetting this and that, tripping over this and that.

It kind of hit me to the core of my being – we really need to count our blessings more.  Sometimes I’ll complain to God, “Lord, why did this happen to me?”  Which is really hilarious, because I had no idea how many times I’d been protected from much worse or much more frequent misfortune.  God’s kind of like an air traffic controller in that sense – it’s His job to avert some of the bad things and turn the others for the better.