Honest Words - Failure

Greetings Dear Reader,

Some of you may wish to curl up your toes hear.  When I was still teaching I was actual told that I could not tell and adult college student that he had failed a class.  I was instructed to tell the student that he had “delayed success” in his English Composition effort. 

This particular student had failed to attend two thirds of the classes.  He had failed to turn in the weekly homework for the entire term.  He had failed to complete his term paper.  He failed to tell the truth to his instructor, my friend, when confronted numerous times about his deferment of his success.  I failed to be politically correct with him.

I have seen bad teachers and my friend Katie is the opposite.  She went above the requirements for every student who showed the possibility of being successful.  She did everything possible to make students feel safe, capable, and motivated to avoid delaying success in her classes.

We fail sometimes.  As a school chair I did dismiss a teacher who told a student that she was a failure.  That is mean and horrid.  No one is “a failure.”  Failing, however, is a part of the learning process.  You fail.  You evaluate. You learn more and then you try again.  There are also some things some students will never be able to accomplish.  They are not a failure but they will fail at some things always.

To me it is dangerous to teach others that the never fail.  It sets a state of mind that they can do anything.  There are things I cannot do.  I will never set a record for the long jump.  I fail at jumping most of the time.  Even puddles do not fear me.  They know that I will land in them.

We fail.  We are a fallen, flawed, and fractured species.  Without the understanding that we fail we may not see our greatest failure.  We may not understand that we need something beyond ourselves for redemption.  If I do not acknowledge my failures then I will not see my need for God. 

I sin (we will visit this word a little further down the path).  I do not always follow Christ in daily situations.  When I fail to follow in the moment that moment passes.  I have not delayed success.  I have FAILED.  I can still follow but the moment is gone and will never return.

It is my responsibility to acknowledge that I fail to do what is right at times and use that knowledge to learn, grow, and fail to fail in the future.  If I do not learn from my failures then I will not follow Christ faithfully.  If I do not embrace the full weight and length of the coil of my sin then I will fail to be horrified by it.  I will fail to see my depravity so that I might fight against it.  That would lead to failing to follow which in turn would be the greatest failure of all. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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It Ain't Yours to Throw Away – Familiar Failure

Greetings Dear Reader,

There is a line in the song “Southern Cross”, “And we never failed to fail; it was the easiest thing to do.”  So often we fail.  We become successful at failure.  It becomes familiar to us and we embrace it. 

We fail to love.  We fail to forgive.  We fail to see the needs of others before considering our own.  We fail to be what we are created to be by God.  In that failure we believe that the habit of failing is our flaw.  We embrace that we are “a failure” in some area and use it to excuse or at least accept continued failure.

Our failures become a part of us.  We say things like, “I have a short temper so I may go off at you without warning.”  Yes, that was actually said to me by someone.  We preload the failure to be patient.  We preauthorize our freedom to fail to do what is right by believing and saying that is just who we are.

The problem is that success at doing what is right is always available to us.  Paul told the Philippians that God “works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  He not only wants us to do but works to give us the will to do.  When we let failing become familiar and common we are throwing away the work that God wishes to do in us. 

This too is not ours to throw away.  I am not free to fail in controlling my anger, selfishness, or greed.  I am not allowed to fail at following.  It is not my right or privilege to throw away God’s work in me.  When I choose to fail at following I make it easier to do so next time.  When I fail to forgive and throw away the forgiveness that Christ offers to us all.  I must fail to fail.  It is the only failure I am allowed to embrace.

Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Got out of town on a boat to the Southern islands

Sailing a reach before a following' sea

She was making' for the trades on the outside

And the downhill run to Pipette

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas

We got eighty feet of the waterline nicely making way

In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you

But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

Think about

Think about how many times I have fallen

Spirits are using me larger voices calling'

What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

(Around the world) I have been around the world

(Looking') Looking' for that woman girl

(Who knows she knows) Who knows love can endure

And you know it will

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time

You understand now why you came this way

'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small

But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming' day

So I'm sailing for tomorrow my dreams are a dying'

And my love is an anchor tied to you tied with a silver chain

I have my ship and all her flags are a' flying'

She is all that I have left and music is her name

Think about

Think about how many times I have fallen

Spirits are using me larger voices calling'

What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

(I've been around the world) I have been around the world

(Looking') Looking' for that woman girl

Who knows love can endure

And you know it will, and you know it will yes

Oooh...

So we cheated and we lied and we tested

And we never failed to fail it was the easiest thing to do

You will survive being bested

Somebody fine will come along make me forget about loving you

At the southern cross

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."