Failure Is A Pain!

      My son was pitching in his first baseball game and I was a wreck! There was so much pressure on one little boy. Everybody was watching his every move. When he threw a strike they cheered. When he didn't do as well the crowd wasn't as friendly. I grabbed my husband's arm and cried, "This is too much. What a horrible game!"  As he peeled my fingers off he said, "Kimberley, baseball is a game of failure. A perfect game for a pitcher is rare. A good batting average is less than 50%." Well, I am a teacher and 50% to me is an "F" which means failure. Failing is bad. Why play a game when you fail more than you win?
       Life is kind of like baseball, when you are winning everybody is on your side cheering you on. They applaud your success, shake your hand, and offer to be a part of the "A" team. On the other hand, when things aren't going so great the tide can turn fast. People tend not to stand behind you. The ones that were just cheering you on avert their eyes and walk the other way. Disgruntled mumblings stir up, "I knew this wouldn't work. You should have done this or you should never have even tried such a crazy thing!" The applause turns to suspicion. Many don't want to be part of a team that is stumbling even if it once was the "A" one.
      Bryan and I have failed MANY times at many different things. A lot of people who said they would always be there for us..jumped ship at the first sign of trouble. But God has used each one of these failures to make OUR FAITH STRONGER, DEFINED OUR CHARACTER, AND TESTED OUR PERSEVERANCE. Are we going to listen to the doubters or are we going to listen to our creator?
      Failure is part of the process. It's painful but where are you going to learn how to handle mistakes? Failure keeps things into perspective. You make adjustments and try again. Look at Bill Gates, Kurt Warner, Albert Einstein, or Abe Lincoln. Between these four they had a lot of failures. Two were thought to be mentally challenged before they came up with the Law of Relativity and created Microsoft. One lost quite a few elections before he became president of the United States. And the other worked in a grocery store before he won the Superbowl. Victory is that much sweeter when you have tasted defeat. Don't run from failure learn from it. Failure keeps you humble. If you succeed at everything you might begin to rely on yourself more than the provision of God. Everything is for His Glory.

 ^"I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." Acts 20: 23-25