One day recently I read three different quotes that stated “Failure is not fatal” … I shared one of those posts and responded jokingly that I was getting paranoid reading all these posts about “failure.” One kind lady responded to my post by saying I needed to find some new Facebook friends who didn’t dwell so much on failure!

As I thought about those posts and responses, I wondered if there was a message for me … was God trying to get my attention to “warn” me about some impending failure. Maybe … maybe not. But it did get me to thinking about this concept of “failure is not fatal” and I decided to see if there might be some HOPE in failure. Being the eternal optimist, I was quite sure I would find a reason to hope in the midst of, and in spite of, failure.

Here are 4 reasons I believe there is HOPE in failure:

1. Failure is inevitable. Everyone experiences failure to some degree and at some point, if not at several points, in life. We’re not picked to play on the kickball team in elementary school; we fail an important exam in middle school; we don’t get asked to the prom in high school; we don’t get into the college we hoped to attend; and on it goes. Later in life we may encounter more heart-rending failures – loss of a job or a relationship, etc. The fact is, no one escapes failure – it’s a fact of life.
2. Failure is a sign of progress. It’s been said that Thomas Edison, the great inventor of the electric light bulb tried thousands of different ways to produce incandescent light before he hit upon the correct, enlightening, formula. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!) How many of us would have given up after a few tries, or maybe a few hundred tries? But he kept experimenting, thousands of times, until he found a way that worked! I’ve read that he refused to acknowledge all those tries as failures, instead his response was, “I haven’t failed, but I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work,” loosely quoted.
3. Failure is necessary for success. Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success magazine, tells the childhood story of learning to ski. After days on the bunny slopes he proudly skied up to his dad and announced that he’d finally made it all the way without falling once. His dad’s unexpected response was, “If you didn’t fall, you weren’t learning.” You see, his theory was that failing is a sign that you’re pushing past your comfort zone into the realm of the unknown and uncharted areas of life. And that’s the only way you’ll advance beyond your current station. If you want to move ahead, you’ve got to expect failure. Learning from our failures will push us toward success.
4. Failure, viewed with the proper perspective, keeps us focused on our purpose. I read in a recent issue of Reader’s Digest (June 2015) that J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, in her 2008 commencement speech at Harvard University confessed that seven years after her own graduation, she had “failed on an epic scale.” As an unemployed single parent, she considered herself “the biggest failure.” However, her own failures taught her to strip away the inessential, to stop pretending to be something she wasn’t, and to direct all her energy “into finishing the only work that mattered” to her. Had she not failed and then turned her attention to her true calling she may never have found the determination to succeed. “The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.” (from the book, Very Good Lives, by J. K. Rowling)

When we view failure through the lens of HOPE, we can rise above it, move beyond it, and progress forward with new wisdom and renewed focus.

Is there Hope in failure? Max Lucado sums it up beautifully: “God’s love never ceases. Never… God doesn’t love us less if we fail or more if we succeed. God’s love never ceases.”

This is God’s Word on the subject: “…. I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)

Got failures? Don’t despair, there’s HOPE in there … Turn those failures into successes with a dose of HOPE!

More thoughts on “Failure is Not Fatal” from Our Daily Bread.

P.S. It was Winston Churchill who first said “Failure is not fatal” in a speech to the British people during World War II.

In a recent podcast, Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success magazine, spoke about boarding a plane on a dark, cloudy, rainy morning. But as the plane gained altitude, it rose above the clouds to where “the sun was always shining.” His point, of course, was that when we find ourselves in the midst of dark and dreary life circumstances, we should rise above the circumstances and focus on the positive, on the place where the “sun is always shining.”

But as I listened to him, I heard the words “the SON is always shining.” You see, life has covered me with some dark and dreary clouds at times. And I’m sure, anyone reading this will agree that the circumstances of life can be overwhelming, making life “Undone” as Michele Cushatt shares in her recent memoir. But I’ve come to realize that above and beyond the clouds of life, the SON is always there for me.

In Matthew 28:20 Jesus gives us this promise: “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” (TLB) If my focus is on me and my problems, then life is dark, dreary, cloudy, and painful. But if I raise my focus above my circumstances, and concentrate instead on the warmth and presence of the SON, then I experience hope, joy, peace, love, comfort – all that Jesus has provided to see me through those circumstances. Usually the circumstances don’t change, but my perspective from above the clouds, surrounded by the light and presence of the SON, helps me see those circumstances as the instruments that God is using to shape me into the likeness of his SON to become the person He has intended for me to be.

Nobody likes the dark clouds of life circumstances; and I guess Eddie Rabbitt is probably the only person loves a rainy night, but we all can learn to appreciate the clouds, knowing the SON is always shining beyond them!

When have you risen above the clouds of life’s circumstances and discovered that the SON is always shining? Your experience can encourage someone else to see HOPE beyond their clouds, too.