From Failure Comes Success

bykent64

264 followers

11 years ago

This morning as I reflected on my goals, my life, and the past I came across a message I did in the past. The message began and ended as presented here. I believe this to be a timely reflection given the current governmental crisis here in America and simply because we all can relate in some fashion.

Most of us have experienced--or will experience--our world coming apart at the seams. We have experienced--or will experience--devastating blows that threaten to undo us.

Some of those devastating blows come in the form of natural disasters--floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the like. I have been spared that particular kind of devastation, but I've seen it. I can imagine what it must be like to lose everything--right down to the family photos.

Some of those devastating experiences come in the form of sickness or the death of a loved one. Some of those devastating experiences come in the form of a financial setback--the loss of a job--the loss of a home--the prospect of outliving one's money.

When that kind of thing happens to us, we quickly learn what we are made of--and what's really important to us.

Fred Craddock might be a name that is unfamiliar to you, but he is a great preacher and teacher of preachers. He tells the story of a hospital visit he made when he was the pastor of a small Oklahoma church. The hospital patient--a woman--called asking Craddock to visit because she was due to have surgery the next morning. There was panic in her voice. Craddock remembered the woman, but realized that he hadn't seen her in church for quite a while.

When he got to her hospital room, Craddock noticed that there was no Bible on the night stand. What he saw were junk magazines--magazines about movie stars and that sort of thing--not a spiritual calorie in the whole "cotton-pickin' bunch." And the woman wondered why she was panic-stricken. She wondered why she had no resources to deal with the storms of life.

Most of us can relate to one of the stories above. Now let me share with you a poem that I have carried with me for over 30 years.

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Notice the shape of the poem. Do you see the Angel? That is the final purpose of this reflection. It's is to give you inspiration to not quit but to keep moving forward. Zig Ziglar states, "you can have everything you desire if you will help enough people get what they desire." Well, I am looking for people to help!

Jim Rohn states, “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.”

May this day and all your days be full of success.