Back in October, one of my students that I adore asked me to write her a letter of recommendation for a scholarship. I happily obliged. I got the email, and as emails often do when I don't respond immediately, it fell into the abyss. I had it in the back of my mind somewhere, but was grateful when she reminded me again in December. The deadline was January 18th. It went somewhere on my to-do list, and she graciously reminded me again. She told me that I shouldn't wait until the last day in case there were issues with the website.
My good intentions of turning it in earlier failed, and I sat down to fill out the recommendation form yesterday afternoon. When I logged in, there was a message that said that it was due on the 17th and I could no longer submit the recommendation. I read the initial email again multiple times, and it said that I had until midnight CST to turn in my recommendation. I was 1/2 hour too late to call the place, so I had no hopes of getting help. Everything I read was pretty clear that if you didn't get it in on time, they wouldn't accept it. I wrote multiple emails to them pleading my case, begging them to allow me to submit my recommendation–especially because it wasn't the girl's fault. I was guilt-ridden and heart-broken. I felt terrible to have let down such a fantastic student. Even though the website had a glitch, it was really my own fault, since I had been warned ahead of time that there could be issues. I prayed for forgiveness, but also for a miracle, not for my sake (I didn't deserve it), but for hers.
I called the organization the first thing this morning to see if there was anything I could do. The guy on the other side of the call wasn't very nice and he told me that there was nothing he could do. I explained that it wasn't the girl's fault at all and that she did everything right. He told me that he was sorry (though his tone didn't really convey that feeling) but he couldn't do anything about it. I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to that could help me. He told me all I could do was write an email, but it was unlikely that they would make any exceptions. I could hardly talk, and I nearly broke down and cried.
First period started, and I stammered through the first few minutes. I apologized to my students, telling them that I hadn't had the best morning. Shortly into class, I went to look at something on my computer and saw an email from the organization that was offering the scholarship. They told me that due to technical difficulties last night, they were extending the deadline until 5:00 today. As soon as I had a moment, I turned in a letter with all the praise that I could lavish upon her.
The interesting thing about it was that if not for that glitch, I never would have learned what I did. It would have saved a lot of suffering (and trust me, I had a major breakdown), but I wouldn't have gotten the powerful lesson on procrastination that I did. I'm also grateful for the reminder that God will give us grace in our weaknesses, and that we can always turn to Him for help. It reminded me that I should be merciful to those who humbly, and perhaps even those who not so humbly, ask for my compassion. Lessons learned.
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