We Punish Ourselves

By: Bradley Binversie

A priest, friend of mine, always used to say, “God doesn’t punish us, we punish ourselves.”

While I don’t know if God directly punishes us or not, we certainly do punish ourselves. We are human and will make mistakes and fall short. Most likely, we’ve done things we’d be ashamed of others to know about. We said words that hurt people we care about when we’re angry. We have been selfish, unkind, petty, resentful, and all other kinds of actions we don’t want to be.

But how long do we hold onto these mistakes? It’s human nature to feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, and angry with ourselves for the things we’ve done. I find myself often falling short of the standards I set for myself. I’ve held on and dwelled on my mistakes. Yet, I cannot change the mistakes I’ve made so the only thing to do is to humbly take responsibility and try to do better. I wasn’t the husband, father, leader, or person I wanted to be today but tomorrow I’m going to try to be better.

I make mistakes, we all will make mistakes. Give yourself permission to forgive yourself and move forward with the goal of being better.