Failure can be a scary thing. Too often in life, we live in the shadow of failure, whether that is the fear of failure or the allowance of letting failure define us as a person. Isn't this all too true in the sporting world? We've based all of our practice and time around succeeding. We've become accustomed to success. When one obstacle is thrown in our way, we tend to question our value on the field, court, or whatever sports venue it is. A key fumble, a couple of missed free throws, or a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game devastate us. A person story of my own life:
My final minutes on the basketball court in my competitive career were filled with disappointment. As a DII college basketball player, I had experienced a lot of success on the basketball court. One of my final goals was to go to the National Tournament. In the conference championship, we were winning by a single point with less than 10 seconds left in the game. I had just secured a rebound a was fouled. During my senior season, I was an 85% free throw shooter. If I made both of these free throws, the worst that could happen is the other team could make a desperation 3-pointer to send the game into overtime. I stepped to the line and missed both free throws. The other team raced to the other end and hit a shot with 0.6 second remaining. We lost the game by 1 point. The defeat was crushing to me. It made me question my basketball career. This failure was poised to mare my memories. I could have let this event define me as a basketball player. In looking back, it took some time to realize that no single event could define me.
Whether it is sports, a job, your family, or anything else that holds significance in your life, there will be many obstacles that are thrown in your way. There will be failures along the way that cause you to question yourself. There will be failures that seem like they define you as a person. "Failure is an event- it's not personal." It is the same with God. There are days when I have failed miserable in my walk with Christ. There are times when I seem at the bottom of the rollercoaster and wonder how I can love God the way I am supposed to. We must develop persistence. There is no single event that will change the way God feels about us. You only fail when you quit! We only fail when we quit trying to grow closer. There will be obstacles and failures in our lives, but Coach Tressel states, "Every obstacle presents an opportunity."
Your life and your walk with Christ is not defined by one event. If you ever get the feeling that you're defined by one failure, don't believe it for a second!
Break up the creative rut...
14 years ago
2 comments:
Here is my question? Do Christians focus on their failures more than those who don't know Christ? Does the failures of Christians bother us more because we have fallen short of Christ himself? Why do we focus on that one failure compaired to the 100 accomplishments? I know I do it, but why?
I think that anyone who is seeking Christ can tend to focus on their failures, whether you are a Christian who is constantly seeking to grow in Christ or whether you are not a Christian who is seeking to learn about Christ and what he is all about. When we begin to see the accomplishments and perfection of Christ, our natural tendency is to shift our focus to our inadequacy. We buy into the lie that Christ is perfect so he doesn't see our accomplishments the same way he sees our failure. We can't fathom that someone can see us with the ultimate example of love and grace, and we can't fathom this because we ourselves can't do this to other people. We tend to focus on other people's failures rather than their accomplishments, so our mind tells us God must be the same way. His grace allows Him to be more proud of our accomplishments than he is disappointed in our failures. We just have to begin to see God for who He really is. Just like your own child, no one failure can wipe away how much you love him/her or how proud you are of them. Strive to knock out those failures, but don't believe that God is just focusing on your failures.
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