The Blessing of Failure?
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. (John 6:37)
You’ve heard the old phrase, “You can be right and still be wrong.” It is natural to want to be proper or correct. Kathryn Schulz wrote a fascinating book entitled, Being Wrong, which addresses the need to be correct and how it can handicap our ability to find truth and advancement. Schulz confirms, “The thrill of being right is undeniable, universal, and (perhaps most oddly) almost entirely undiscriminating.” We often feel we’re right because we create a world small enough for us to succeed. When our world is under our control, We can reframe mistakes to our advantage. We can fool ourselves and others into ignoring our errors.
Yet, striving to be right is in our DNA. Without the ability to formulate accurate conclusions are necessary for our survival. Those who make poor decisions put their lives in danger. How often have you seen individuals put their lives in danger, running out in front of traffic just to save a few minutes when it would have been safe to walk to the crosswalk? Others decide to take illegal drugs for inappropriate reasons—a few, with one wrong decision, ruin their lives. One bad decision leads to another, while at the same time, the person begins to overthink their failures which leads to a loss of self-worth, cycling with more bad choices.
Recognizing that failure is a part of life for anyone who tries hard, and success only comes when one learns from failures is vital. We only retain dignity and self-worth when we learn from our failures and recognize our place in the system. Schulz says, “Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world.” When we embrace our place in God’s divine call and learn that others are no better and no worse in God’s eyes than we are, there is room to overcome and continue striving for meaning in life.
Schulz recognizes that “Twelve hundred years before Rene Descartes penned his famous ‘I think, therefore I am,’ the philosopher and theologian (and eventual saint) Augustine wrote ‘fallor ergo sum’: I err, therefore I am.” For the person of faith, when we recognize our fallibility, we can embrace God and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s direction. When the Spirit steps into our fallibility, we can bring joy and hope to others and ourselves. Today, offer your failures to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to step into our humanness and shine God’s light through us. Our limited nature only makes our successes reflect God’s grace and power. Our limitations help others celebrate God’s ongoing work in our lives.