“Our greatest glory is not in never failing but rising every time we fail.” – Confucius

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill

“But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” – Paul writing in Philippians 3:13 KJV2000

When it comes to failure, each of us internalize it differently – casting it aside, clinging to it, or processing it somewhere in between those extremes.

Think about a balancing scale.  It takes the exact amount of weight on each side to maintain a perfect stability.  Imagine placing our personal failures on such a scale.  What would it look like?

Some of us don’t want to think about failure at all – especially those failures of a personal nature.  Our ego is so large and so demonstrative, we shut out any thought of it to protect our fragile self-image.  I know of people so entrenched in the self-preservation of their ego and self-esteem, that to simple utter the words, “I’m so sorry!” , “I was wrong.” or “I not only failed myself, but so many others!” are words or thoughts they cannot begin to entertain.   To admit failure is like pronouncing their own death sentence – something dreadful and beyond recovery.

When it comes to their view of failure, the balancing scale is tipped too far one way.  When the scale is this far out of balance, they don’t realize the lack of personal growth, the destroyed relationships, or the devastating lies they are embracing.

In a more extreme example, there are simply evil individuals who have no conscience at all.  Personal failures have no bearing on how they view themselves or others. 

You may not be evil (and I doubt you are if you are taking time to read this 😊) but ignoring the conscience over time can have the same affect.  What at first sounds like an alarm clock going off inside the conscience, if ignored, can begin to muffle over time – barely registering a decibel of concern.  Here too, the balancing scale of personal failure is broken and inaccurate.  Ignoring the conscience has buried the failure so effectively, it becomes forgotten and disregarded.

Some of us are entirely opposite.  We fail miserably and choose to hold onto it as if it were something integral to our being.  It unconsciously becomes like a favorite piece of clothing – something in the closet of our minds we reach in and put on every day – draped around us everywhere we go.  We wear our failures to the point where they are visible in our body language, in our interactions with others, and even when we are all alone – looking in the mirror. 

We feel like our personal failure was so egregious, so horrific, that we cannot take it off or set it aside.  From the moment it happened, we decided that it would forever define us.  How can something so terrible be so easily cast aside?  How can we ever be forgiven or start over again? 

That balancing scale is tipped too far the other way, again useless and ineffective.   This imbalance, grasping too tightly to our personal failures, is what I want to write about today. 

Many of us are on this end of the imbalance – letting personal failures define us in ways that are unhealthy and unproductive.  I hope the points below will help bring more balance to how you see them and how you internalize them.

To the individuals on the opposite side of the scale, to those who never see their failures or choose to discount or ignore them altogether, I’m afraid no thought provoking article will help.  Only a significant event or circumstance that transpires within their lives will wake them up from their apathy – jolting them from the delusion of their self-imposed perfection.

How do I know this?  I was one of those folks my friend 😊 

As we deal with looking at our personal failures in a healthier way, let’s pray for those among us who are on the opposite end of the scale – that God may bring them and us to the center – balancing how we view our mistakes and missteps.

If you are holding on too tightly to your personal failures, contemplate the following:

FAILURE IS INEVITABLE

There is absolutely no way one can live life and avoid failure.  The Bible says, “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise, who seeks God.  Everyone rejects God; they are all morally corrupt.  None of them does what is right, not even one!”  Psalm 14: 2-3 NETB

In your personal failures, you are never alone.  No one is perfect my friend – no one!  Failure is not something that defines YOU, it defines the human race.

Realize you are not the only one who has succumb to your specific failure – thus it cannot and never should define YOU individually.

YOUR FAILURES ARE NEITHER A SURPRISE NOR A DISAPPOINTMENT TO GOD

If our God knew us before we were ever born (Jeramiah 1:5) and knew how every day of our life would unfold (Psalm 139:16), then no failure is ever a surprise to Him – no misstep a major disappointment.

Nothing we have ever done or will ever do will surprise God or catch Him off guard.  He is never shocked by our failures, in fact; He has always been aware of them – knowing when each will surface within our journey here.

How can an Omniscient God ever be disappointed?  If the outcome is already known, how can our mistakes and failures be a major letdown or dashed expectations from God’s standpoint?  He has seen our lives in their entirety – knowing in advance where we will fail ourselves and others.

In fact, God uses His omniscience to our advantage – crafting future circumstances in the context of our failures to fulfill His purposes for us.  What a reassuring thought!!

YOUR FAILURES CAN NEVER SURPASS OR LIMIT GOD’S GRACE

 “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were.  But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.” – Romans 5:20 NLT

One translation of this verses says, “wherever sin increased, there grace super-abounded!”

Our failures can NEVER exceed God’s grace and mercy toward us….NEVER!  Nothing we have done or will ever do will cause God to abandon us or diminish His love for us.  His grace SUPER-ABOUNDS – helping us to recover and move forward from any failure that surfaces in our lives.

If you are wearing your failures my friend, put on the cloak and covering of God’s grace instead!

FAILURES CAN IMPRISON US OR PROPEL US FORWARD

We can allow our failures to define us, and if we do, we most certainly will repeat them.  If we view them as life-altering, that is exactly what they will become.  This viewpoint of our mistakes will perpetuate their effect on us – keeping us imprisoned in defeat.

Remember why we are here in the first place – to learn and grow for the years and ages to come.  No learning ever occurs in a state of perfection.  Our mistakes and our failures are a part of setting the stage for us – propelling us forward and preparing us for what lies ahead.

But only if we allow them too – only if we see them in the light of learning and growing.  Then and only then, as Napoleon Hill suggests, will we experience our greatest successes as a result 😊

Again, in the context of the balancing scale, I’m not suggesting we diminish our failures in any way, but they should never destroy us!

If you are hanging on to them too tightly, come back to the center my friend.  Realize they are inevitable in this life and are never a surprise or disappointment to our God.  Let His “super-abounding” grace cover them in a way you learn and grow from them – never allowing them to permanently define who you are or take you hostage the rest of your days.

You have too many things to accomplish, too many good things that lie ahead for you 😊

May your balancing scale surrounding personal failures always rest in the center – never allowing your conscience to be silenced by your self-inflated ego, but in the same context, never allowing your failures to diminish your destiny or purpose in this life.

God bless you always!