“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! This is exactly what it is for!”
I told her how each year, I would sign up for insurance benefits on the computer during our little staff meeting at school, and I made sure to always select short-term disability insurance.
“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.
She told me that even though all other insurance choices and options were made on the computer, short-term disability insurance required an extra physical paper 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, and I still despise that emotion today—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.
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 progress.
But above all, I am grateful that I will be punished (AKA held accountable) for my own sins (which require a knowledge that there is a principle I am sinning against).
And that I won’t be held accountable for anyone else’s transgressions. Whether it’s Adam, or Eve, or a leader, or a friend.
I will only be held accountable for the sins I choose.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
