Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Victorious Failure
Everyone wants to succeed. I mean think about it. Everyone wants to:
-Throw/Catch the winning touchdown
-Star in the biggest blockbuster ever
-Win a famous award
-Write & perform the greatest song ever
-Capture the heart of the most beautiful person ever...and make everyone else jealous
-Win the title
-Write the next NY Times Bestseller
-Or whatever else you're into, you want to be recognized as the best.
And I personally don't think anything is wrong with that. I love it. I hope that whatever you do, you strive to be the best and give it all you can with all your heart and never quit or give up. Now, keep in mind, the only way to be the best is to recognize what is better than you, then discover how and allow that to challenge and grow you. In brief, the best way to be the greatest is to be the most observant when it comes to your worst.
But first you must admit and accept that you are not the best. It would probably help you to know that you're more than likely not in the Top 10 either! As a matter of fact, the greatest way to improve is to stress your faults and weaknesses with the mindset of turning them into your strengths.
Winston Churchill once said, "Success is moving from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." What I love about this statement is that achievement is never mentioned or glorified. He talks about a repetitive failure.
Here's another one for you: Mister Rogers writes in his memoirs that when he was starting out as a songwriter that he thought he had some great songs. As a matter of fact, he had about 10 or 12 great songs that he believed would be AWESOME for children's listening and entertainment. He writes that he travelled to New York to try and find an audience with someone, ANYONE, who would listen to and produce his songs. While he was in the Big Apple, he actually met and visited with a great singer/songwriter in the area of children's entertainment who had been highly successful in that profession. Of course, Mr. Rogers listened to the wisdom and tales of experience the man had to offer. After a while, Mr. Rogers asked the man if he would give a listen to good ol' Fred's songs. The successful singer/songwriter said, "Sure thing! How many you got?" Mr. Rogers writes that he was very proud when he replied, "About 10 or 12." The veteran writer sympathetically smiled. Mr. Rogers writes that instantly he recognized that it wasn't a good sign. The voice of experience then told him that in order to be great, he needed to have about one-to-two HUNDRED songs before he could consider himself a serious singer/songwriter. While Mr. Rogers was floored and walked away discouraged, he recognized the truth in what the successful man said and recognized his own shortcomings (and embarrassment) of not being prepared to show true dedication to his craft. I believe at some point, Mr. Rogers figured it out and became somewhat successful...but not until he recognized his own failures.
Everyone wants to succeed, but not everyone wants to endure the humiliation of failure. You've heard the stats: the homerun King, Babe Ruth, is also the strikeout king. The King of Touchdown passes (Brett Favre) also leads the NFL Record books with the most number of interceptions thrown. The list goes on and on: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Ludwig von Beethoven...all failures, time and time again, who refused to let failure define them, but to shape them.
Now think about this: What if your frequent failure continues because God is trying to show you something? What if God WANTS you to fail? What if the greatest thing you could do for Him at this time in your life...is to FAIL?!? I know, I know -- I can hear you now: "God loves me and wants to see me succeed in all I do blah blah blah, because I blah blah blah..." Whatever. Now think about this: God wants you to bring the best of you to the table. He asks for your commitment, dedication, obedience, love...but where does He say anything about guaranteeing success, or demands you to only show up when you have your stuff together and bring the most success you can accomplish?
No where.
Not once.
Not at all.
He asks for your commitment to Him, not your trophies. He calls for obedience, not awards. He desires your heart...not the worldly definition of your interpretation of success. Look, God doesn't need your skill or success. As a matter of fact, He doesn't need you at all. He gives you the opportunity to be a part of His story, His world, His success! Look in Scripture, apart from Jesus, every person in Scripture is typically there for their FAILURES more than their successes. Call 'em out: David, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Paul, Jonah, Noah, Samson, Moses...the list goes on and on. Perhaps they're in Scripture to show and teach us of God's GRACE, not man's GREATS. Sure, these guys tasted what could be considered 'success,' but not until God showed up.
So embrace your failures. Accept your shortcomings. Recognize that others are better than you. Understand there's more for you to know and ways to improve. Expect failure!! You know what, EMBRACE failure!! See it as God's invitation and opportunity to bring success into your little world. Claim victory in the areas that you suck at. Allow God to be God, the success, the victory, the completion, the fullness, the right-maker, the problem-solver, and the embodiment of the only victory you can taste. See your failures as the next big way God wants to show up in your life.
Perhaps when we grasp and desire that, we might get one step closer to getting it right.
-Throw/Catch the winning touchdown
-Star in the biggest blockbuster ever
-Win a famous award
-Write & perform the greatest song ever
-Capture the heart of the most beautiful person ever...and make everyone else jealous
-Win the title
-Write the next NY Times Bestseller
-Or whatever else you're into, you want to be recognized as the best.
And I personally don't think anything is wrong with that. I love it. I hope that whatever you do, you strive to be the best and give it all you can with all your heart and never quit or give up. Now, keep in mind, the only way to be the best is to recognize what is better than you, then discover how and allow that to challenge and grow you. In brief, the best way to be the greatest is to be the most observant when it comes to your worst.
But first you must admit and accept that you are not the best. It would probably help you to know that you're more than likely not in the Top 10 either! As a matter of fact, the greatest way to improve is to stress your faults and weaknesses with the mindset of turning them into your strengths.
Winston Churchill once said, "Success is moving from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." What I love about this statement is that achievement is never mentioned or glorified. He talks about a repetitive failure.
Here's another one for you: Mister Rogers writes in his memoirs that when he was starting out as a songwriter that he thought he had some great songs. As a matter of fact, he had about 10 or 12 great songs that he believed would be AWESOME for children's listening and entertainment. He writes that he travelled to New York to try and find an audience with someone, ANYONE, who would listen to and produce his songs. While he was in the Big Apple, he actually met and visited with a great singer/songwriter in the area of children's entertainment who had been highly successful in that profession. Of course, Mr. Rogers listened to the wisdom and tales of experience the man had to offer. After a while, Mr. Rogers asked the man if he would give a listen to good ol' Fred's songs. The successful singer/songwriter said, "Sure thing! How many you got?" Mr. Rogers writes that he was very proud when he replied, "About 10 or 12." The veteran writer sympathetically smiled. Mr. Rogers writes that instantly he recognized that it wasn't a good sign. The voice of experience then told him that in order to be great, he needed to have about one-to-two HUNDRED songs before he could consider himself a serious singer/songwriter. While Mr. Rogers was floored and walked away discouraged, he recognized the truth in what the successful man said and recognized his own shortcomings (and embarrassment) of not being prepared to show true dedication to his craft. I believe at some point, Mr. Rogers figured it out and became somewhat successful...but not until he recognized his own failures.
Everyone wants to succeed, but not everyone wants to endure the humiliation of failure. You've heard the stats: the homerun King, Babe Ruth, is also the strikeout king. The King of Touchdown passes (Brett Favre) also leads the NFL Record books with the most number of interceptions thrown. The list goes on and on: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Ludwig von Beethoven...all failures, time and time again, who refused to let failure define them, but to shape them.
Now think about this: What if your frequent failure continues because God is trying to show you something? What if God WANTS you to fail? What if the greatest thing you could do for Him at this time in your life...is to FAIL?!? I know, I know -- I can hear you now: "God loves me and wants to see me succeed in all I do blah blah blah, because I blah blah blah..." Whatever. Now think about this: God wants you to bring the best of you to the table. He asks for your commitment, dedication, obedience, love...but where does He say anything about guaranteeing success, or demands you to only show up when you have your stuff together and bring the most success you can accomplish?
No where.
Not once.
Not at all.
He asks for your commitment to Him, not your trophies. He calls for obedience, not awards. He desires your heart...not the worldly definition of your interpretation of success. Look, God doesn't need your skill or success. As a matter of fact, He doesn't need you at all. He gives you the opportunity to be a part of His story, His world, His success! Look in Scripture, apart from Jesus, every person in Scripture is typically there for their FAILURES more than their successes. Call 'em out: David, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Paul, Jonah, Noah, Samson, Moses...the list goes on and on. Perhaps they're in Scripture to show and teach us of God's GRACE, not man's GREATS. Sure, these guys tasted what could be considered 'success,' but not until God showed up.
So embrace your failures. Accept your shortcomings. Recognize that others are better than you. Understand there's more for you to know and ways to improve. Expect failure!! You know what, EMBRACE failure!! See it as God's invitation and opportunity to bring success into your little world. Claim victory in the areas that you suck at. Allow God to be God, the success, the victory, the completion, the fullness, the right-maker, the problem-solver, and the embodiment of the only victory you can taste. See your failures as the next big way God wants to show up in your life.
Perhaps when we grasp and desire that, we might get one step closer to getting it right.
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