Failure

Sometimes we don't get it right. Sometimes we completely miss the mark. Sometimes our best laid plans fall flat and don't do what we expect.

I am not a big fan of failure. In fact, I avoid doing some things in my life because of the "what if I fail" thoughts that go through my mind. I don't know what it is that I am so afraid of. Being frozen in life over such an irrational fear is frustrating. I know deep down that by not doing what I am called, I am sitting stagnant, neither able to fail or succeed. Everyone must fail.

At some point we all will fail. We need to learn from failure. We need to know what it means to deal with the disappoint. We have to grasp that all failure is the step in a process of becoming who we are intended to be.

Timothy failed. Not in a huge way, but he went out to Corith carrying Paul's message. Corinth didn't really respond.

^{1 Corinthians 4:14-17} I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Here is a man that was loved by God and by Paul and yet he still didn't accomplish what he was sent to do. Do you think this had an effect on Timothy? I am sure it did. Just as the failures in my life have changed me. The older I get the more I understand the need to grasp my failures as strongly as my successes. Learn from them, allow them to build on my character and try again. Timothy was sent out many times and Paul continued to trust and guide him.

May I encourage you today to take the step you are afraid of. May I remind you to pick up friends that may be in the midst of failing and give the guidance and encouragement they need. Don't give up on yourself or others when failure is part of the plan.