First Edition

Today’s Post Written By: Rae Lynn DeAngelisRecently I was watching one of my favorite television programs when God spoke to my heart about something I had been continually berating myself over–the grammatical errors found in the first runs of each of my books, Nothing But Your Truth Will Help Me, God! and Living in Truth Day by Day. My stomach turned each time I found a new mistake. I felt so inadequate. How could anyone benefit from my books with those errors? Surely the mistakes would detract from the message I was trying to communicate.But then one day while I was watching Pawn Stars, a customer brought in what he believed to be a First Edition of a classic book by a well-known author. Rick, the pawn shop’s owner, decided to call in an expert so he could get an accurate appraisal of the book.When the expert came in she looked over the book by paging through the manuscript, obviously looking for tell-tale signs as to whether the book was indeed a First Edition.First Edition means the first published printing of a book. After the initial run of publication, mistakes were often found that would require new typesetting for the next printing. (What a boost to my morale to know that even successful authors made mistakes in their books!)The appraiser was looking for the known errors of that particular novel’s first printing, proving it was a First Edition. After her assessment, she came to the conclusion: the book was indeed a First Edition! This was good news for the owner who was looking to sell because the book appraised for several thousand dollars!Hmm…. maybe mistakes have value after all! And not just the kind found in the First Edition of a classic novel. The kind we make each and every day of our lives.Mistakes teach us valuable life lessons. They remind us that we are not perfect. Only our heavenly Father is perfect. Mistakes keep us relatable to others. Mistakes show us the wrong way to do something so we can learn the right way. If at first you don’t succeed