Aug 21, 2010

Failure Is Great ....IF... You Invest It In Success

Common Sense Commentary:

Failure is great....If it, like a chauffeur, drives you to success .... and opens the door for you. RB

The difference in success and failure is as much in not doing the wrong things as it is in doing the right things. Success in almost any field is usually built upon a huge pile of the debris of multiple failures. There are few exceptions. After a person has made a sufficient number of mistakes and has failed in enough ways, he begins to complete his education in the field of hard knocks and "how NOT to do it". I, personally, have known very few successful people who have not first waded through a lot of hardship and failure.

The not so obvious fact in observing successful things is, that success is not simply genius, or some secret formula, which brings a person to the pinnacle of one's vision, but it is also,in fact, all of their failures and mistakes which made the stairway to success possible. In other words, it is their accumulation of failures which taught them experience and knowledge and led them to an accumulation of successes which finally brought them to the winner's circle ... and once a winner, success breeds success. So, a real winner is a winner even when he is still losing. He's the one who does not give up, but keeps on keeping on long after most people quit. That usually means he has a positive attitude, definite goals, determination and a lot of endurance.

This is also true in the Christian world. A popular Christian singer in recent years had a song entitled "There Are No Losers". I never cared for the song. Neither do I think that term should be used like a curse word. The truth is, there ARE LOSERS and WINNERS. If there are no Losers, there are no Winners, but we faulty humans are not the best judges of which is which. We are inclined to judge other people's success by our own standards of what "success" is. God's Word says that those who "commend themselves" also "measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves" and "are not wise". 2Cor10:2.

Most people can't help but think "those poor savages in the jungles" would all be like us if they could: But many of those jungle dwellers wonder why we don't want to be where they are. A missionary to the jungles of South America, once told me of landing his small plane on a river deep in the jungle. The native people there had never seen a white man or any of the outside world's STUFF except an occasional airplane high above them. They were, of course, very curious and the chief and his brother stoically agreed to take a ride with the pilot who flew them up over the vast jungle a few minutes. Back on the ground, he asked them why they weren't more excited and what they thought about flying up above everything. The chief answered simply, "Bugs do it". They didn't like his lunch, his clothing, his glasses or shoes either. They liked it where they were .... "poor savages at home in the jungle".

When I was younger and a bit dumber, I believed in "Nation Building" like Republicans
and somewhat less on feeding, healing, housing, and subsidizing the poor of the whole world like Democrats do. Both parties have spent trillions of your dollars (Mine ? ... Yes Yours) fulfilling their dreams which when they awoke, just now,swore it was the other party's nightmare. I think both are now drying the tears from their bloodshot, cataracts ...with frowns on their faces, their fists on "their own" wallets and their fingers on yours. It has become obvious to idiots, that we have exported the "American Way" to third world countries until they now have more of it than we have. I assume that because WE don't have it any more and it went somewhere.

What America and all the world needs is not each others "way of life" but Jesus Christ. He makes all the changes that are needed most in lives. He changes hearts, souls and lives. We need that in America as much as any nation on earth including darkest Africa and the Arctic. He also turns losers into winners while the world and the devil try to drag us into the losers circle where they are and think it is fun to be.

The "love of money" and accumulation of it is not success. The building of a multinational corporation is not success. Becoming a famous, popular, beautiful, celebrity is not success.

True SUCCESS is .... whatever it is that causes a person or family or nation to be at peace with themselves and with God; and, causes them to be motivated to do their best in all worth while things they attempt. Things like , providing for their own, helping others LEARN how to provide for THEMSELVES, living a useful healthy life, being frugal which is stewardship, working hard, being honest, being balanced, treating everybody with respect, and setting an example for their family, church and nation for Christ.
Now, what is that powerful force which endeavours to develop those elements of character and true success in the lives of people ? It has to be obvious to those who have experienced it. It is exactly what God's Bible teaches us ! Those who seek God's Will as a way of life are winners
and those who do not are the losers. Mark 8:36 .... For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul".

Pass it on. RB

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