The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights
in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with
his hand.
–Ps 37:23-24
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet
to have taken hold of it. But one thing
I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize to
which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
–Phil 3:13-14
Brennan Manning (1934–2013), author and priest
wrote, “Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will
be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these
horrors. No evil can resist grace
forever.” It’s obvious we’ll experience
these maladies as we go through life.
But such afflictions can be learning experiences so that we’re able to
do better the next time. Our determination
is a key to success. You just have to
get up and try again. An author Og
Mandino (1923–19996) was reassuring when he stated, “Failure will never
overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Secrets to Success
A retired four-star general in the United States
army, Colin Powell (b. 1937) looked at success and concluded: “There are no
secrets to success. It is the result of
preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” While, a former Prime Minister of England,
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) reasoned, “Success is not final, failure is not
fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” But it was Erin Cummings (b. 1977), an
actress, who summed it all up when she wrote: “At the end of the day, you are
sorely responsible for your success and your failure. And the sooner you realize that, you accept
that, and integrate that in your work ethic, you will start being successful. As long as you blame others for the reason
you aren’t where you want to be, you will always be a failure.”
Shaping Your Life
Skylar Grey (b. 1986), a singer-songwriter
explained, “Your personal life, your professional life, and your creative life
are all intertwined. I went through a
few very difficult years where I felt like a failure. But it was actually really important for me
to go through that. Struggle, for me, is
the most inspirational thing in the world at the end of the day – as long as you
treat it that way.” Theodore Roosevelt
(1858–1919), president of the United States was however reassuring: “Far better
is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by
failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much,
because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” It’s for us to keep on pursuing God’s
righteousness, in doing something positive, and putting our trust in his
will. Jeremiah 8:4 says that if a man
falls down, he gets up again. If he goes
the wrong way, he turns around and returns to the right path.