I started a new job in December. I’m a virtual EA (executive assistant) for a company based in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a Christian company, and I work with some pretty great people – at least as far as I can tell over e-mail. And…I hate typos. I try my hardest to make sure I don’t have any errors in my blogs and e-mails, but I’m not perfect, and sometimes one just slips in. (please don’t tell me if you see one in today’s post…) 🙂
So…..I had to send out an e-mail with an agenda for an upcoming meeting, and it went to quite a few “higher ups,” including, you know, the CEO. I had proofed and proofed it, and I sent it out. Then….a few days later, I had to send out a reminder e-mail with the same info, so I copied and pasted it and sent it out again. Then one last time, the night before the meetings, I had to send out a final reminder. So, I copied and pasted and sent it out again.
And then……I got an e-mail from one of the other EA’s. And to my horror, she brought to my attention that there was a typo in each and every one of the e-mails. Instead of saying 2:30 – 3:00 it said 2:30 – 3:000. Gasp! I know….but when you’re trying to make your boss look good, even the smallest typo in an e-mail going to his CEO is terrible. Let alone sending the same one out 3 separate times!
But it gets better….there were TWO typos! One of the gentlemen’s names on the agenda was Brian….only that’s not what it was in my e-mails. Nope. I called him Brain! Yep…..Brain.
I thought about a couple things that day…
Number one – No matter how much I expect perfection from myself, I never will be perfect. We talked about that in Unrealistic Expectations.
Number two – I will never, ever, EVER copy and paste without double checking everything again. That was just a silly mistake.
Number three – I thought about Galatians 6:1.
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Galatians 6:1-3)
That word sin means: a side-slip, lapse or deviation, an unintentional error or willful transgression — fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.
I did not send that e-mail out with mistakes in it intentionally. It was an unintentional error. Three times. The same error. Did you ever make the same error over and over and over? So…you feel my pain. But at that point, what could I do?
Did I get mad at the person who told me? There was a point in my life with all my insecurities and expectations of perfection in myself that I probably would have. Correction is never easy to hear. But….my sweet co-worker approached me so humbly and with such grace and with no other motive than to help me, I couldn’t be mad. She had noticed it the first and second times I sent it and said nothing. Why? She didn’t know I would send the same error out yet again.
So….when she saw the very same thing come around the third time, she felt compelled to help me. Why? She was fulfilling the law of Christ. She was bearing my burden. She didn’t know if I had to send that e-mail out again, and she wanted to help save me from sending the same error out yet again if that was the case.
Toni, why are you telling me all of this? Well, I’m so glad you asked.
Galatians 6:1 says that if we see our another believer caught in an unintentional error or willful transgression, we are to restore (complete thoroughly, repair, mend or adjust) them. Gently. Humbly. One-on-one with a meek spirit because we know we too have faults. Not as a know-it-all or because we think we’re better than them. But because we care for them and want to help them.
She didn’t respond to everyone on the e-mail loop and bring my typos to everyone’s attention and berate me in front of the whole group. She e-mailed me one-on-one and just said something along the lines of, “I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds…but…”
On a side note – the verse says we are to restore believers. Not unbelievers. We are not to go to those in the world and tell them everything they’re doing that’s against God’s Word. No…we are to tell them Jesus loves them. Nor are we supposed to just police everyone’s actions. It’s best if you have relationship with them and Holy Spirit is prompting you to do it….please don’t get carried away…Just sayin’……..
So, what do we take away from all this?
- Nobody’s perfect.
- Don’t ever just copy and paste something without re-proofing it. 🙁
- If someone comes to you gently, humbly and in great love to let you know something they see in you that needs adjusting, don’t get angry. Hear what they’re saying and take it to the Lord and ask Him what to do with it. Chances are….they’re just trying to help you because someone helped them too and they care about you.