I fell over the weekend. I fell hard. It wasn’t like I tripped over a rock, and caught myself. I mean my actual head hit the actual floor. And I was in public. I heard people gasp as I went down. Someone asked if I was alright. (I was.) I ended up with cuts on my right side and bruising on my left. Both my knees still hurt. It was not a pretty picture.

Here’s what happened. I was carrying a TV stand up to my mother’s tenth floor apartment. The stand was too heavy, but I could lift it. I loaded it into and out of my car just fine, so I figured from the parking lot to the elevator lobby wouldn’t be that big a deal, And it wasn’t, but as I got to the door of the elevator lobby, the automatic door closed just as I was about to clear it. It clipped the TV stand, knocking me and the stand off balance. I went to the floor, my finger was caught under the wooden stand just as it came crashing down.

Now I could look at this several ways. I could blame the door for closing before I was clear of it. I could be upset about the number of people who watched me carrying in the stand without offering to help. I could even be embarrassed about my magnificent clumsiness. I’m not doing any of that.

The truth of the matter was I knew the thing was too heavy for me to carry. I knew that this particular door is sometimes tricky to navigate. I could have, and in hindsight, should have, asked for assistance. As for embarrassment, I have been falling for the last 39 years of my life. I’m way past embarrassment. My siblings will tell you that I could neither walk, nor chew gum, and that any attempt to do both at the same time would most likely end in a near death experience for me. (I still thank God my Daddy knew the Heimlich maneuver! The man saved my life more times than I could count.)

Anyway, I said all that to say that falling happens. Some falls are worse than others. Adam’s fall brought about sin and death to all mankind. I can’t imagine you’ve had a fall worse than his. Don’t be like Adam. Own up to your mistakes. Take responsibility for your actions. Accept the consequences and get back to work. Your story shouldn’t end with the fall. The real story begins when you get back up again.

Love,
MAma Radford