Tough Life
It took 5 years and 5,126 failed prototypes for James Dyson to develop the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner. Ten years later Dyson had to set up his own manufacturing facility, because other manufacturers wouldn’t produce his vacuum. Now he has the best-selling vacuum in the world, and today his personal net worth would be 9.6 billion dollars. James Dyson had 5,126 failures. Failure is not the end. Success is not the end either. You should never really trust success for it never tells you what you need to know. Failure reveals so much more than success, things like who your real friends are, what really matters, your true values and attitudes, etc. John Maxwell said: “God uses people that fail, cause there aren't any other kind around.” We all have failures. We are human. It’s what we do with those setbacks and failures that matters. Failure is a bruise - not a tattoo. It’s a temporary setback hiding an opportunity for learning and growth. Failure is not your identity. I have found that failure often helps galvanize and clarify my thinking and desires. Recently I have tried 5 different attempts to find partners to fulfill the vision and of our church to reach our community and beyond. Each one has failed. And each time more insight and wisdom comes to my heart and mind after the momentary feeling of loss and rejection. I only have 5,121 more attempts to go. What looked like the greatest failure in history was just a moment of quietbefore the ultimate victorious win for mankind. After three days of seeming failure, Christ arose breaking forever the power of death, sin and separation from our creator and Father.
Don’t let your failures define you. Seek his heart and face. Wise people embrace their failures and choose to learn and grow from them. Foolish people avoid them and blame someone else and go on to repeat them over and over again. The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. (Eccl. 7:8)
Q: Name some people in the Bible that failed and tell how God used them anyway.
Q: Where have you failed? What wisdom did you acquire from the failure?