Look to the Next Challenge

Last night, the Colorado Rockies suffered the last in a long line of losses that eliminates any chance for them to make it to the playoffs this year. As I watched the post game report, it hurt my heart to watch those players interviewed express their discouragement, knowing their dream of world series competition had faded away. However, in the background, fans continued to cheer. Despite the disappointment of last night, I glimpsed a spirit of hope for the 2011 season rather than remorse over the games played in 2010.

I lay awake until late last night thinking about what I had posted in yesterday's blog as opposed to the attitude I saw at Coors Field last evening. We all have disappointments. We all fail. We all fall short of the goals we hope to achieve in one way or another. That doesn't mean we should dwell on the past. It doesn't mean we should fear failure in the future. It certainly doesn't mean we should quit reaching for those seemingly unattainable goals.

One of my favorite lines of all time comes from a Gunsmoke episode entitled The Guns of Cibola Blanca - Part I. The line is spoken by actor Milburn Stone, playing the part of the ever wise Doc Adams. "Any failure is unimportant if you don't surrender to it." Isn't that a great philosophy!

I just did a word search for "failure" in the Bible. Know how many times I found it? Once. And even then, it is referred to in a positive connotation. It is found in I Thessalonians 2:1 and Paul is speaking. "You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure." On the other hand, I found three pages of references to the word "success".

God doesn't want us to fail, but when we do, He doesn't want us to dwell on that failure. He wants us to take the time to figure out what went wrong, do something to fix it, then try again. He stands by us during our failures and rejoices in our success.

As the Colorado Rockies chalk up the 2010 season and look to 2011, I put behind me Sunday's failure and look toward devoting my energy to the success of tomorrow's ventures.

Thanks for reading my blog!