Piloting Faith: Could it be that failure is one of life's great teaching tools?

A Word for the Day...

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, gave a graduation speech at Harvard some years ago where she talked about failure as one of the great gifts of life. She said:

"I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure...Why? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and I began to direct all of my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." (Very Good Lives by J.K. Rowling, pg 33).

Could it be that failure is one of life's great teaching tools to make us stronger, more focused, and in the end, braver? I don't wish failure on any of us. But we will fail, and we will get back up again, better for the journey.

Romans 5:3-5 says, "Let us boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

I pray that if failure comes your way, you will discover the strength of the foundation upon which your life is built. As the ancient words of Seneca remind us: "As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Lord,

Give us our daily bread.

May this simple prayer flourish in my heart and mind today. Let it teach me how wholly dependent I am on you for the basics, and how I can trust you for my needs.

Jesus, you asked us to ask.

For the millions who have too little to eat today, have mercy. May all those in positions of power and abundance have mercy, too - mercy that provides for those in need. Show me my necessary part in your provision so those who need food, water, and welcome can find it in our culture, that they might live with safety, health, and dignity.

Amen.

(adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess, and David Van Biema)