Be Thankful For Failures
“I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.” ~ Dolly Parton
I’ve got to be upfront here and say this: I’m an Elon Musk fan. I like him a lot. Yes, he comes off as smug and arrogant. Yes, he can appear to be abrasive. But what I really like about him is that he isn’t afraid to try and fail. As a matter of fact, there are many times that he looks forward to failing because he knows that his failure(s) will bring him the information he needs to succeed.
The most recent example of his attitude was last week’s launch of SpaceX’s Starship. Musk had stated a few days earlier that he would consider getting off the launchpad to be a success and that any flight time he got after that would be a bonus. He fully expected that the launch would be a failure in the long run. He wasn’t looking at the long run, though. He was looking for the short goal: liftoff.
The Starship did indeed lift off. However, not all the engines fired as anticipated and that caused cascading problems. After a couple of minutes, there was a failure for the Starship to separate from the booster rocket. That caused the entire assembly to begin tumbling in the air for about a minute before breaking up and exploding.
But those few minutes of air is giving SpaceX incredible amounts of data to make the next launch that much more successful. I have no doubt that there will be many improvements and that the problems which occurred last week will not repeat themselves. Yes, there may be new problems but data will lead to those being resolved as well. This just proves the old adage, you can’t succeed without failing. It takes a person of strength to admit that and stand by that.
We are frail people. Our souls, clothed in these fragile, perishable mortal frames, are prone to many downfalls. Falling is not a problem. A problem only arises if we do not get back up when we have fallen. God knows that we are going to fall. God knows that we are going to fail in many attempts. The falls and failings do not concern Him as long as we ask for His help, get up, and try again.
Don’t let failure frighten you. Don’t let the thought of failure keep you from trying to do what you are called to do. Do it with confidence in God and, if you fail, know that God will help you to get back up. After you fail, see what you have learned and try again. You can do it!
FAITH ACTION: Be thankful for your failures. It means you tried and, hopefully, learned from them.