{"id":139,"date":"2009-07-17T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T10:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/07\/fallibility-is-a-great-achievement.html"},"modified":"2009-07-17T10:15:35","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T10:15:35","slug":"fallibility-is-a-great-achievement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/07\/fallibility-is-a-great-achievement.html","title":{"rendered":"Fallibility is a Great Achievement…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A frequent commenter here on the blog
\nwho goes by the name Credis Dervish posted the following four lines across two
\ncomments yesterday in response to my Submit: The New S-Word<\/a> post. Credis is a
\nself-described anti-theist, a piece of information I share only to provide a bit of
\ncontext for the comment.\u00a0She writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

don’t be too hard on
\nyourself.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

recognizing your
\nfallibility is a great achievement!<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

i’m rooting for you.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

there is nothing inherently
\n“christian” – but a lot human – about fallibility.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought long and hard about Credis’ words.<\/span><\/p>\n

“…fallibility is a great achievement.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What a delicious paradox. Having spent a
\nlifetime in pursuit of an impossible perfection, I have learned (usually the
\nhard way) that this is a powerful truth.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

“…there is nothing inherently
\n“christian” – but a lot human – about fallibility.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Also a potent truth: One that is
\nevidenced as addicts of all stripes pursue humility in addiction recovery
\nprograms all over the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, while there may be nothing
\ninherently Christian about fallibility, I have – despite my own reticence – found
\nsomething in Christianity that has propelled my pursuit of fallibility in a
\ndeeper and more sustained way as a result of this transformative faith. <\/span><\/p>\n

Undoubtedly people can change. I changed
\nplenty and for the better during nearly a decade of self-propelled efforts to
\nimprove myself – first by sheer force of will, and later with the help of a power-greater-than-myself. Since coming to this faith, however, my
\nefforts to change shifted. I went from focusing on things I wanted <\/i>to change\u00a0– <\/i>things that would make me more comfortable, or wealthy or increase my prestige – to\u00a0changing things I needed <\/i>to change.
\n<\/i>Flaws and shortcomings I did not even know were there began to emerge. My efforts to change from the outside-in seemed to come from this inside-out. It did not come simply and required letting go of all that I had previously held sacred. But, as if a wall of bricks had stood between me and the life I was meant to live, each thing I lost opened wider glimpse of a new, freer life. <\/span><\/p>\n

So, thank you Credis for giving me such a sweet nugget to chew on. Looking forward to future dialog…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A frequent commenter here on the blog who goes by the name Credis Dervish posted the following four lines across two comments yesterday in response to my Submit: The New S-Word post. Credis is a self-described anti-theist, a piece of information I share only to provide a bit of context for the comment.\u00a0She writes: don’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nFallibility is a Great Achievement... - Flirting with Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/07\/fallibility-is-a-great-achievement.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fallibility is a Great Achievement... - Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A frequent commenter here on the blog who goes by the name Credis Dervish posted the following four lines across two comments yesterday in response to my Submit: The New S-Word post. Credis is a self-described anti-theist, a piece of information I share only to provide a bit of context for the comment.\u00a0She writes: don’t…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/07\/fallibility-is-a-great-achievement.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-17T10:15:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joan Ball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fallibility is a Great Achievement... - Flirting with Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/07\/fallibility-is-a-great-achievement.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fallibility is a Great Achievement... - Flirting with Faith","og_description":"A frequent commenter here on the blog who goes by the name Credis Dervish posted the following four lines across two comments yesterday in response to my Submit: The New S-Word post. 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