If I had a token for every time I got a message from my wife about something in my posts that needed correction, I would have enough tokens to redeem them for the biggest stuffed animal in the history of Chuck-E-Cheese. And I would give it to her. And I KNOW she would love it because it would remind her of my love and appreciation for her willingness to come to me with corrections I need to make (even though I cringe on the inside every time I hear her say, "Hey babe... there's a word in your post you need to fix"). Truth is...
I'm not a perfectionist. I just hate to make public mistakes. My problem is... I often don't know I've committed a faux pas until I've already put it out there. Thankfully, though, I have a partner who is willing to help me... to hold me up... and sometimes even to hide my mistakes. We all need editors like this in our lives.
Editors see the errors we miss. Editors help us remove things that shouldn't be there. Editors ask questions that bring clarity and context to the content we put out into the world. Take Charles Dickens' novella, “A Christmas Carol”, for instance. If left up to me (as reimagined for our tacky Christmas party a few years ago), I envisioned a couple... Christmas Carol and her rapper boyfriend, Lil' Timmy. But hey... that's what happens when you try to put something that was written two centuries ago into today's terms. Sometimes things get lost in translation and we quote content apart from context because we are working so hard to make the words make sense in ways they were never intended. Thank goodness for Dickens' editor... otherwise this renowned Christmas classic might have been a catastrophe of ratchet proportions. Rappers like Lil' Timmy weren't so popular in 1843.
Maybe our brain moves faster than our fingers and we omit important words. Maybe autocorrect thinks it knows best and replaces our intended words with something that changes the entire content of our message. Maybe my perspective is askew and I didn't see things clearly in the first place. These are some of the reasons we need editors in our lives... people who can see things we miss... confidantes who will lovingly help us make necessary corrections. The book of James states quite clearly the call we have as Christians to help each other in this way... "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20). So when others come to you asking permission to speak some editorial insight into your life... try not to get mad at the messenger. They love you enough to let you know that something doesn't look right. They are the ones willing to tell you you have broccoli stuck in your teeth or you are trailing toilet paper behind you as you exit the bathroom while others just look at you and laugh. And while editors are important...
More important is the Author... the only One who can rewrite the narrative for our good and His glory. Editors don't create the content... their job is to help us communicate it clearly. Without the original author, editors have nothing to work with. That's why we all have to be agreeable in holding each other accountable to the story that sets the standard for our lives. And we have to be willing to give Him permission to overwrite stories we sought for ourselves... let Him draw red lines through words we wrote and replace them with red letters. He's the Author... and the Finisher. Let Him finish the story He started writing in you. (Philippians 1:6)
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..." - Hebrews 12:1-2
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