The winter Olympics are taking place right now. As my eyes are fixated on the television screen, I find myself amazed at the physical ability of these Olympic athletes. How do they do what they do? They’re bodies bend, contort, and withstand physical exertion that seems humanly impossible! How do freestyle skiers perform turns and aerials as they race down a mountain reaching speeds over 30 miles per hour, and still mange to land on their feet? How do speed skaters circle an ice rink and remain vertical when they are balancing on nothing more than a blade that is less than 1/8 of an inch wide? And figure skaters? Oh my! Graceful would be the last word to describe me even walking across the ice – let alone dancing and pirouetting on the ice.
Have you ever wondered how often these athletes had to fall before they accomplished their success? Or how many times they lost a race, or a competition before they even achieved the honor of competing in the Olympic games? Although its perfectly clear that these athletes have obviously been gifted with physical abilities, it doesn’t change the fact that it took a great deal of determination, discipline, repetition, and bruised bottoms to get where they are today!
We understand that all talented athletes have experienced many a fall on their way to athletic greatness. It makes perfect sense to us that in order to finish a stunt and land on their feet, their bottoms first had to experience many up close and personal moments with the ground. When we hear the testimony of athletes admit their past failures, we appreciate their abilities even more. And we admire them for not giving up.
But do we extend to ourselves that same level of understanding when we fall? When we make mistakes, do we embrace the old saying that says, “failures are stepping stones to success?” If you are anything like me, all too often, your answer to that question could be, “No!” I don’t need the press to compose a cover story out of my mishaps in order to feel that I’m a failure. When I experience my own up close and personal moments with the ground, I have often been convinced that if Self Pity was an Olympic sport, I could bring home the gold!
Thomas Edison once said, “I haven’t failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” I love that quote! Not only was Edison remaining positive (by not considering the mistakes he made as failures), he was also admitting that he made ten thousand mistakes to boot! Every time I turn on the lights in my house, I can be thankful that Thomas didn’t consider himself a failure. Because of his determination and optimistic spirit, we now have the ability to see even in the dark!
The other day, I responded to my daughter’s crisis with frustration and exasperation, instead of responding with patience and a calm spirit. Does that mean I failed as a mom? There were times I mishandled a delicate situation with the women on my ministry team. Does that mean I was a failure as a ministry leader? I received a rejection letter from a publisher. Does that mean I’m a failure as a writer?
We may not engage in death defying stunts for a living. And we may not be working on an invention that will change the way future generations live life. But there is something very valuable we can learn from Edison and these Olympic athletes. Besides a tenacious spirit, successful Olympic athletes and Thomas Edison have something else in common. I believe it’s humility. Pride says, “I didn’t really fall. And if did, it wasn’t my fault.” Whereas, humility says, “I fell. But what I can learn from it as I get back up and try again?” At some point in their lives, they had to embrace some level of humility.
It really isn’t a lack of making mistakes that brings about success, but rather the humility to admit we make them, and the humility to learn from them. Proverbs 29:23 says, “Pride will ruin a man, but humility will bring honor and respect.”
When the mistakes we make in life – as a mom, as a friend, as a wife, or as a ministry leader – give us the opportunity to see the ground from a perspective we would rather not see, we can choose to embrace those falls with humility, knowing that success is often achieved by getting back up, rather than never falling to begin with.