Failure… Leading to Success

We all face failure… Yesterday I chatted to Phil, a lovely, gentle, kind, skilful, generous guy with a wealth of positive life experiences… Phil’s had two marriages, two divorces; it’s a long time since he’s seen his children. His relationship with his current long-term partner is falling apart. He’s uncertain where he’ll live, he’s uncertain of his financial future.

Some might see Phil as a failure; sometimes Phil would.

We try to avoid failure… Yesterday the Seagull Theatre directors were discussing next year’s budget… future plans, income sources, staffing costs… avoiding financial failure.

We discussed our utility bills… We’re budgeting for a rise of 14% to cover increased heating costs. The notes say, ‘This is likely to be an over-estimate, but has been done out of an abundance of caution due to the volatility of utility costs.’    

I often try to avoid failure by an abundance of caution…

The failure process… I was reminded of St Paul’s words… ‘We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.’

He’s saying that trouble and apparent failure lead to patience; patience makes us better people and more alert for whatever good things God will do next… Failure is part of a bigger picture, the process of life.

Failure leading to success… Bear Grylls’ thought for today starts, ‘We have all chalked up failures in life…’ He continues: ‘failures can be the making of us…’

Grylls tells of when he applied for SAS selection – and failed. He tried a second time… ‘by the end… only four out of the ninety of us were still standing… Out of those four, three of us had failed in our first attempt… failure had been the key to eventual success…’

Failure leading to success is a key theme throughout the Bible narrative. This morning I read about Jacob… then there’s Moses, Gideon, David, Peter, Paul…

Grylls says: ‘Failure is the doorway to success that we must pass through to get to the good stuff.’