T
hink about it, the call to strength never appears when we are strong; it comes when we are weak. The call to make a difference comes when we are clueless as to what we are called to do and more open to change. The Truth says, we are called from our pain into the light. We are called to strength from our weakness and called to get up when we are down. Out of failure, we are called to success. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. (Isaiah 9:2)
Note, every 'triumph story' begins with a fall, a failure, a road block, or a despairing experience. Perhaps this means we should welcome failure as much as we welcome success. Every one of us has failed in some way or another. The failure is not in the fall, but in the not getting up. We wallow in our failure and devote our energy and time toward figuring out why it happened, to insure it will never happen again. The real question is not 'why poor me,' but rather what am I to learn from this experience? What am I to do as a result of this experience?
In my journey, failure has been more important than success in finding the meaning of my life. It was in my failures that I developed humility, endurance and learned the value of life over the acquisition of things. It is in failure that people become strong and move to the next level of fullness. It was the failures that taught me to surrender to the Divine Intent for my life and the path I was really meant to take. My father stated that he never learned life's secrets when things were good; everything he learned came when things were a challenge. The point is, engage your failure rather than running from it. Use your failure to learn patience; use it to become more resilient. Can you be joyful in times of failure? Finding joy during this time is when you are made strong. Happiness can come from success and the accumulation of earthly goods, but happiness is not sustainable. Happiness many times is based on things that by nature, change. Joy is an ever-present state that comes from the ability to find good in all things, even situations that are not necessarily good.
Recently we visited Cuba, not the tourist part of Cuba, but rather the small towns where people live with almost nothing. We found that even after years of oppression, they were still filled with a joy about life that was unprecedented to us. They owned nothing, worked for almost nothing and had none of the things we take for granted, yet were still joyful, loving, caring people. Their faith was revealed in the way they lived.
"They are pressured in every way but not crushed; they are perplexed but not in despair, they are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed."
(2 Corinthians 4:8-10)
