“You won’t get any money during your maternity leave.”
There was no way what my HR director was telling me was true.
“But I’ve signed up for short-term disability for the past three years!”
“Oh,” the HR director said. “But did you also fill out the physical application for it each year, too?”
I had no clue about a physical application.
I’m a fairly competent, intelligent person who had attended the employee benefits meeting every year.
And I truly, honestly did not remember hearing about this extra step.
I was frustrated, devastated, concerned for our financial situation…
But nothing could change that. I hadn’t paid into the insurance, and so I didn’t get it.
It was one of the worst feelings in the world:
The feeling of being punished for something that you truly had no clue you were doing wrong.
Real life is rough like this sometimes.
Honest mistakes and innocent oversights can have devastating impacts.
I can hardly even imagine a loving Heavenly Father who would hold something over my head that I did not knowingly do.
Instead, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.” (Article of Faith 2)
I think of silly times, like when I thoroughly enjoyed a cake at a neighborhood party, just for my mom to realize it was filled with coffee afterwards, and I felt so guilty.
Or more somber times when I believed I was helping someone out, only to discover that I had unknowingly harmed their spiritual progress.
I am grateful that I will be punished— or held accountable— for my own sins.
In order to sin, I have to have a knowledge of the principle against which I am sinning.
This seems totally fair to me.
I won’t be held accountable for anyone else’s transgressions, whether it’s Adam’s, Eve’s, a leader’s, or a friend’s mistake.
God will only hold me accountable for the sins I choose.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
