RESPONDING TO FAILURE

“A righteous person may fall…but he gets up again.” Pr 24:16 GWT

You can tell a lot about somebody by how they respond to life. Everybody gets knocked down, but how fast you get up again is what counts. Verla Gillmor says: “Failure teaches us things we can’t learn any other way…Treat it as a visitor allowed to deliver unpleasant news, but don’t let it take up residence. Remember, all failures aren’t equal. For example, when a beautiful, talented young woman is first-runner-up in the Miss America Pageant, we say she failed. Yet some people would give their right arm to be named the second most attractive female in a national competition. It’s a matter of perspective… [examine] your failures and weigh them according to their importance in the overall scheme of things…I once received a ‘D’ in college…it’s ridiculous, but that sticks in my mind like a pebble in my shoe. Why do I fixate on that and not the fact that it happened the semester I carried nineteen credit hours, worked part-time, got engaged, and spent six weeks in the college health center with mononucleosis? When I put the experience in context, it loses its power to undermine my confidence. Failure teaches us what’s important. I’ve a friend who was downsized out of a job…It caught her by surprise because she was good at her work. ‘I tended to be full of pride,’ she says. ‘I got away with it because I was so successful. Losing my job…humbled me. With pride you have no permission to fail. It’s a heavy yoke…and I don’t wear it any more. I feel lighter in my spirit without the burden of having to be perfect.’”

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