Make no mistake about mistakes

A tip of the hat to Conrad Gempf for pointing me to this post by Scott Berkun on learning from our mistakes. I found this observation particularly helpful for Christians:

An implied value in many cultures is that our work represents us: if you fail a test, then you are a failure. If you make a mistake then you are a mistake (You may never have felt this way, but many people do. It explains the behavior of some of your high school or college friends). Like eggs, steak and other tasty things we are given letter grades (A, B, C, D and F) organizing us for someone else’s consumption: universities and employers evaluate young candidates on their grades, numbers based on scores from tests unforgiving to mistakes.

For anyone [who] never discovers a deeper self-identity, based not on lack of mistakes but on courage, compassionate intelligence, commitment and creativity, life is a scary place made safe only by never getting into trouble, never breaking rules and never taking the risks that their hearts tell them they need to take.

Can anyone relate? I'm reminded that, for Christians, our value comes not from what we do or even who we are, but from whose we are---children of a loving God.

Update: It's rare that I draw attention in a post to comments on that same post, but Jeff of anti-itch meditation has added some good ones to this one.