The Bible is a book of failures for failures
Tom Watson, Sr., founder of IBM, was being interviewed by a young man who asked the following question: “Mr Watson, how can I be great like you?” Without hesitation Mr Watson responded, “Double your failures.”
Albert Einstein’s teacher described him as mentally slow, unsociable and adrift in foolish dreams.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas.
Winston Churchill failed in sixth grade and did not become Prime Minister until he was a senior citizen and eligible for a bus pass (62)!
And what about this guys climb to success!
Failed in business – bankruptcy, 1831
Defeated for legislature, 1832
Failed in business – bankruptcy, 1833
Sweetheart dies, 1835
Nervous breakdown, 1836
Defeated in election, 1838
Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1843
Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1846
Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1848
Defeated for U.S. Senate, 1854
Defeated for U.S. Vice President, 1856
Defeated for U.S. Senate, 1858
Elected President of the U.S. 1860
His name: Abraham Lincoln
I guess the point I am making is this; if you have failed a few times you are in good company. The greatest business people are often those who have also failed most. Every ‘no’ can take us closer to a ‘yes’; it’s how we respond it that really matters. Are we teachable? Can we learn from our mistakes?
Remember: Failure is only temporary but quitting lasts forever.
The Bible is a great book to guide us through failure and into success. It is littered with stories of people who are remembered ‘to put it mildly’ for being less than consistent due to failure:
King David, Solomon, Moses, Joseph, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Paul to name a few. Each one has a story of failure. All of these people where called by God to do great service and had the Bible been a book of fiction you would only have read about consistent and exemplary lives. You would not expect major blunders. Yet, what do we find in their lives: weak parents, jealous leaders, lies, arrogance, corruption and deceit. We see real people who took their eye of God and failed. Go and read them for yourself...these are stories we can relate to and learn from and in our weakness we can draw strength from their experience and see how gracious and merciful God is in spite of our failures.
Have you a failed business plan? Have you messed up with your family? Maybe you didn’t get the grades you hoped for in this year’s exams. The challenge is not to remain in the failure. Learn from it, lift your head and overcome. The people who rarely fail are usually the people who rarely try. Success is not how fast you reach the top, but how fast you bounce back when you hit the bottom. Seeing yourself as a failure will not make you feel better and even more importantly will not help you do any better. Find new ways to work, focus on your strengths, admit your failures and plan to bounce back.
The worst thing we can do is worry about past failures for this will just compound yet more failure in the future. The Apostle Paul gave this great advice: ‘This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead’ Philippians Chapter 3 verse 13. This was Paul’s secret of success. It can be ours too - forget about past mistakes and think about how we can do better in the future.The Bible is a book for wobbly weak-kneed people who are big enough to admit they sometimes fail and need help.
Here is little prayer we can all pray: God, thanks for not giving up on me, thank you that you did not create me to become a failure. Help me to understand that in all my mistakes, disappointments, hurt and failures you waste nothing and you can turn it around for good. Amen.
The lesson we need to remember is: we all fail but only failures stay down. Keep on trying and looking to help others when they fail too.
Make today a day when you give your very best.
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