Oh how the above title makes me smile. This statement was made during one of my coaching classes. A dialog between my teacher and a fellow student was the catalyst for this quote that I think I will apply the rest of my life.

Having come from a long line of perfectionists, this quote gives me freedom to try something new with a whole new attitude of fun. If you think about it, of course we are most likely going to do something poorly when we try it for the first time. As babies, we fell a lot when we were learning to walk. Even if we are not artists, I bet we can draw stick figures better now than when we held a crayon for the first time. I know my children’s art work has improved since their very first scribbles that I still have collected in notebooks. All of their pictures are so precious to me!!!!

Which makes me think how precious perhaps are our “scribbles and falls” to our Heavenly Father as we are trying something for the first time or taking a step of faith. Our mindsets are not always very gracious with ourselves or our Bible heroes. Take Peter for example. The guy walked on water. Wow!!! I know I have never walked on water. (See Matthew 14:22-33.)

As a coach, it gets even juicier, Jesus coaches Peter while they are still in the water through the use of powerful questions. I think our Western minds hear this in a different tone than perhaps Jesus even meant it. Today maybe he would say something like “Hey man awesome!!! You were walking on water!!! What changed in your focus that caused you to sink?” Or perhaps Jesus would say “What did you learn about yourself from this water walking experience?”

I think Peter would have answered Jesus by telling him that he learned the following:

Ask you for what I need to give me courage. (Matt 14:28-29)
Don’t think too long about the task or I may not do it. Just go for it!!! (verse 29b)
Focus on you and depend on you. (verse 29b)
Fear is a distraction. In the future, I will know that and trust you even when I am afraid. (verse 30)
I can cry out to you at any time to help me. (verse 30)
You are faithful to help me. (verse 30)
When I am focused on you I can do things I never imagined possible.

So maybe Peter walked on the water poorly. I think he took what he learned from his experience and applied it. He had come to trust Jesus enough that at the end of his life, he hung upside down on a cross for the One who had changed his life forever. Perhaps Peter whispered, “ Jesus, I know you are still with me . Soon, we will be together again. Let’s go for a walk on the water.”