With the start of a new academic year looming, this is one my better subjects: failure. The kind of failure I’m thinking of is not some kind of accidental slip-up, a bit of inattention.
I mean the failure that comes despite careful planning and good counsel and, if you’re a Christian, diligent prayer. Despite your best efforts, it didn’t work out. However you spin it, it didn’t succeed.
Here are notes I made while reflecting on my failures and disappointments:
- We are in process with God, his ways are not ways, and ‘failure’ and ‘success’ look different to him than they do to us.
- Failure is a normal part of life.
- It is a false spirituality to think that we are immune from failure, and so must re-define it as success.
- There are puzzles in this Universe we will never solve.
- It’s good to be reminded to put our motivation and trust in God, not in our own success or our own selves.
- God’s presence, in the midst of failure or while pursuing an ultimately failed attempt, is an enduring sign of his favour. ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.’
- There’s a freedom and joy that comes from belonging to the community of the failed, the got-it-wrong.