FAILURE

Webster's dictionary defines failure as :http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/failure

Main Entry: fail·ure 

Pronunciation: \ˈfāl-yər\

Function: noun

Etymology: alteration of earlier failer, from Anglo-French, from Old Frenchfaillir to fail

Date: 1643

1 a : omission of occurrence or performance; specifically : a failing to perform a duty or expected action  b (1) : a state of inability to perform a normal function <kidney failure> — compare heart failure (2) : an abrupt cessation of normal functioning  c : a fracturing or giving way under stress 
2 a : lack of success b : a failing in business : bankruptcy
3 a : a falling short : deficiency  b : deterioration, decay
4 : one that has failed

Failure is inevitable in our lives as it is with any endeavor where the odds are stacked against the deck. A new job, new relationship, new family, new anything is frought with challenge and can become subject to success or failure. But what is success and failure? Is success only achieved when the goal is met or is success achieved when we measure the goal met? Perhaps you endeavor to go out and save the world and save one, is that a success or a failure? You went out with good intentions of helping as many people as possible but end up helping only the one. Same with failure, you try to weigh out all the scenarios seeking to be a success at the endeavor, dotting your I's and crossing those T's, but at the end of the day, have you truly failed or is it a perception of failure within us? In our humanity we measure both of these intentions or goals either bad or good. No middle ground typically, and if there is any well....did we see it, get there and appreciate that place of middle ground? Where the task was achieved, but the ultimate goal fell short of the mark?

With Faith we often see ourselves as either miserable failures, or getting prideful and think too much of ourselves. And as we mature, and humility is better understood and learned by the believer, there comes a middle ground that can be the ultimate success or ultimate failure in our faith. When I began this journey months ago I had lofty goals and hopes and dreams. Being a logistical person, analytical yet to my dismay many times, far too emotional, I weighed the pros and cons. I mapped the plan, I steadied myself for the course, I looked up and not out or in. I knew that whatever I happened, the captain of my ship would not allow for me to fail if I ran the good race and kept eyes focused on the task and the prize to be (ACTS 20:24). As I continue to do that I find that what is more the challenge, rather than meeting those markers of success or failure, is emotions and my heart.

For kids today the pressures of pass or fail are inevitable, as they were from prior generations. I am constantly reminded, within my own mind only, that failure is often a perception we create for ourselves, based on human measures and understanding and not on how God measures us. The Bible reminds us in Lamentations 3:22-23 "²² Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  How many of us can offer this to our neighbor, our friend, our family our children. Most parents are excellent at this, but often kids are under so much pressure to succeed and to "please Mom and/or Dad that they build them up into a frenzy of unimaginable proportions and unrealistic goals and expectations.  This is a vicious cycle and it needs to be broken and I think now, more than ever parents are working diligently to achieve that. 


Not ever having had children, I can only imagine the enormity of that responsibility and everything in between. I cannot even fathom what a parent goes through day, in and day out...but I do respect it, admire wonderful parenting skills that I see so often in friends of mine with their children. But I also see something else. I see the pain and suffering that is going unnoticed. Homelessness among children and teenagers is on the rise. Suicide, depression and self-mutilation are on the rise; drug and alcohol and drug abuse continue to be a problem, just as they were 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago (and maybe longer); teen trafficking is getting the awareness that we need but as an earlier blog pointed out, these kids are not being equipped with the Armor they need to fight a world that really and truly feels like the modern day Sodom and Gomorra.


Every where we look we are bomblasted by all the wrong messages and rarely many of the right ones. That is not to say that the end is near and in 2012 the world will come to an end. What I am trying to share here is that we all need to take a stand for children locally, nationally, and globally in order to achieve what feels impossible...save lives!  And FAILURE is not an option. In moving to NY and setting up my base of ops, I have failed miserably in several key areas - acclimation, communication, over-expectation and grace - but not for others...for myself. 


Faced with 4 of the 5 major stressors we can have in our lives, I have been wallowing in my failure to be perfect in making the changes needed in my new environment. I have been running in over drive because I don't want to fail, I don't want to lose sight of the big picture, I do not want to let anyone down....especially these kids and most of all GOD.  As time passes, and I begin to settle and the missing of everything loved and familiar changes into new loves and new familiarities, I must give myself the grace and mercy that GOD gives me anew each day. Well, just as you and I need that little friendly reminder - so too do our children.


They need to hear, see and know...feel, that efforts made for the right reasons can not be failures because the only real failure is when we stop trying. When we stop trying to simply Love one another, to fill our friends and family, even those we barely know - to fill them up with words of encouragement and HOPE; and remind ourselves daily that through faith in that which we cannot see we can achieve everything in life regardless of the "life" actualities. Fear and Failure go hand in hand. Through fear we allow a sense of failure to creep in and take hold. THIS IS A LIE AND A TRICK!!!   God did not give us a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7.  Do not let the other side win. Failure cannot exist if you stand firmly in your faith, knowing that putting your best effort to the task, with the key elements in place - Faith, Hope and Love...you always will WIN. For it is not the measurement of success or failure on earth that matters...but the measurement by God as we stand before Him, and He turns us around...and tells us "Well done, my good and faithful servant".  And as we stand at the shore, with all the pebbles that were thrown and cast into the water, it is then we will know and see our faithfulness in its full and complete glory.


My greatest Prayer for this journey for BFF is that every effort I make, while not necessarily a measurable success by man's standards, ARE always a resounding success by God's!


Pebble out...