Handling failure

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  Joshua 1:18

Nobody likes to fail, yet some of the greatest lessons in life are learned through failure. What can you gain from failure?

First, you gain self-understanding. You learn more about yourself in failure situations than in successful endeavors. People who eventually succeed after one or more failures are usually better adjusted, less arrogant and more gracious.

Second, you learn what will not work. Opportunity often enters through the back door disguised as failure – probably one of the reasons so few people really learn from their failure. To move ahead, however, requires a partial amnesia. Many people never rise from the ashes of their failures because they cannot forget. Fearful of failing again, they hesitate to risk trying again.

Third, you can move in a different direction. A friend faced failure when his company went broke, so he borrowed money and took a two-week vacation. Sitting on the beach in Hawaii, he thought through his failure and came up with a new business plan, which eventually succeeded.

Fourth, you can see an added dimensions to your life – a positive one that also embraces the reality that God has much to do with our lives. Countless individuals have failed, then realized that God had been left out of the equation. Understanding the importance of knowing and serving God, they included Him in their plan for the future.

Failure has much more to teach you than success. Once you have climbed the hill, there’s no place to go but down; but having stumbled on the climb provides lots of opportunities to advance. It’s what you learn that makes for success.

“I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power. By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule the earth. I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8:12-17