Dealing with Failure

All of us have faced times in life when we have been touched by failure. Despite our best efforts and hard work, sometimes things just don't turn out the way we had hoped, and as a result, we find ourselves having to admit that we may have failed. Probably one of the best known failures in the last 40 years was when Richard Nixon had to resign the Presidency of the United States because of his involvement with the Watergate break-in and cover up in the early 1970s. And yet, was his failure the end of the story? Was he able to move on with his life after his admission of wrongdoing? In his 1990 book entitled In the Arena, Nixon gives us a clue as to how he learned to handle what he had gone through. When talking to his staff after his resignation, Nixon said:

"We think sometimes when things don't go the right way, when we suffer a defeat, that all has ended. Not true. It is only a beginning, always. Greatness comes not when things always go good for you, but greatness comes when you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointnments, when sadness comes. Because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain."

In his book entitled Failing Forward, John Maxwell makes it clear that "all roads to achievement lead through the land of failure." He says, "Failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success." If this is true, the question is not about whether we will make mistakes - because that is guaranteed in life - but, the real question is, how are we going to deal with what has happened? The apostle Paul makes his response to difficulty and mistakes quite clear: "I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize" (Phil. 3:13,14).