Failure or Building Block?

One of the many things that I believe drew Piper and I to each other was our matching “Pioneering Spirits.”  We both had a zest for life that encouraged us to seek new adventures and, in some respects… go and do things that our respective families had never considered or done before.  The vast majority of those new things had to do within the arena of our faith and the burning call to ministry that tended to consume us.  Like I have stated on numerous other occasions, when it came to the practice of our Christianity, we wanted to be on the field, playing in the game… right in the middle of the action!

Both of us had similar types of outgoing, adventurous, positive and encouraging… “Let’s Do It” personalities and were… Oh, shall we say… a bit different than the rest of our respective family members… and throughout all the years of our relationship… I am not too sure that the others… except for maybe my mom… ever really understood that.  Piper and I forged many new trails in our lives, sought to take God at His Word and often-times made decisions based on His Word that did not line up with the way that others may have proceeded.

And throughout the years of life, we celebrated many successes as well as few failures along the way.  In the Apostle Paul’s most often repeated and respected treatise on LOVE in I Corinthians 13:7, he stated that,

“Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.”* (TPT)

I can honestly say that throughout our time together… from seniors in high school to senior citizenship… Piper and I always saw failures as building blocks for future victories.  When something didn’t work out, we talked about it, prayed and asked the Lord for direction and correction, went back to the Word and then analyzed our actions taken along the way… and then… tried our best to NOT make the same mistakes again!

We learned many lessons as we matured in life as well as in our faith.  We learned that everybody isn’t just like us.  People have different gifts and talents, different life experiences and differing educations.  There are a multitude of individuals who are MUCH better at doing a lot of things than we were… and vise-versa!  I also believe that each of us have unique callings from the Lord on our lives.  Then within those callings, some of us are meant to be Pioneers and some are meant to be Settlers!

I Corinthians 13:4 informs us that, “Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all…”   (TPT)

For me, this has been… and continues to be… the key that has kept me on track when I see people doing things different than the way I would do it!   I have to realize that “LOVE is LARGE and INCREDIBLY PATIENT” and then act accordingly.  And that just because I wouldn’t do it that way… it doesn’t mean that their way is incorrect! 

Besides, I don’t know how God is leading them.  I don’t know what divine instructions they’ve been given.  I don’t know how this will need to interact with other people, places, things or projects they also have going on in their lives… and lastly… I need to understand that they are not accountable to me… but to God! 

My responsibility is to LOVE them, to encourage them, and to stay consistently kind… even if it somehow doesn’t work out exactly as they planned… because LOVE never takes failure as a defeat but as a building block for future victories in their lives!

Have you ever experienced a failure in your life that you’ve never forgiven yourself for?  Well, remember that I Corinthians 13:7 also tells us that God’s LOVE for you never gives up… So why then… would you want to give up LOVING yourself!  Re-imagine that failure as a building block for your future victories.  Ask the Lord to show you what went wrong… if you don’t already know… take it as a lessoned learned and then move on to your next dream, project or calling that God has placed on your heart.

To sum it all up… Paul simply tells us in I Corinthians 13:8 that, “Love never stops loving...” (TPT)  It is kind of like the different driving modes you can choose in many new cars today!  When you turn onto the road of life, flip the switch, push the button or twist the knob to the 24/7 LOVE Mode… His LOVE for you, your LOVE for Him and your LOVE for others as well as for yourself!.  Then trust God to have HIS way in the midst of any and all situations!

I hope that you are having a TERRIFIC week… and as you journey through your day… keep EXPECTING God’s best as you share God’s LOVE with those around you!

We’re looking at more snow tonight and tomorrow morning… what’s your forecast looking like?