I hate it when I do dumb things. It’s annoying.

Tonight, I went over to Franklin where they had the Bluegrass on the Harpeth festival. It was great seeing so many people gathered together for music on a relatively mild summer evening. I had a near perfect evening, marred by one thing I wish I could take back or do over.

I went to the ATM to deposit some money. All that went according to plan. Then I went to Barnes and Noble to check out their vinyl and eat some of their cheesecake, not in that order. It was only when I arrived at Barnes and Noble that I realized that I never got my debit card back from the ATM machine.

So there it lies in the belly of that First Horizon ATM. And I feel dumb. But it’s not the end of the world.

I still have my credit cards. I have a small amount of cash. I will be ok.

I’ve learned throughout my journey through this walk of faith that beating yourself up repeatedly over mistakes doesn’t help you grow in grace. Giving yourself grace does. When you allow for your fallenness, you make room for forgiveness and grace. You learn to see your need for God more.

The key is to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes. I can laugh about it, but hopefully, I don’t keep leaving my debit cards in ATM machines. And most likely, I will get a shiny new debit card out of all this.