ENCOURAGEMENT
Mistakes Are Important
Ted W. Engstrom
CBN.com – One of the greatest obstacles we face in attempting to reach our potential is the fear of making a mistake, the very human fear of failure. And yet excellence is based on failure, usually one failure after another.
The genius inventor Thomas Edison was one day faced by two dejected assistants, who told him, “We’ve just completed our seven hundredth experiment and we still don’t have an answer. We have failed.”
“No, my friends,” said Edison, “you haven’t failed. It’s just that we know more about this subject than anyone else alive. And we’re closer to finding the answer, because now we know seven hundred things not to do.” Edison went on to tell his colleagues, “Don’t call it a mistake. Call it an education.”
What a marvelous perspective. I don’t know how many additional tries it took before Edison achieved success, but we all know that eventually he and his colleagues did see the light. Literally.
Whether you are an inventor, a housewife, a student, a pastor, or a business executive, you must adopt the same principle that guided Edison in his laboratory work: Learn from your mistakes and keep going. In fact, don’t call them mistakes at all; call them learning experiences.
I cringe when I recall some of the horrendous mistakes I have made during my lifetime. I have made gross errors in judgment and have been insensitive toward people I really loved. I have unintentionally bruised colleagues and employees. But I’ve tried to evaluate those mistakes down through the years so that I could learn from them. I hope I have.
I am not alone, however. I am in the company of millions. Because who among us has gone through a single day without committing some error, some mistake?
Mistakes. Errors in judgment. Some simple, some critical. As we look around us, we notice that no one is immune. And yet when we look at ourselves, we tend to be mercilessly critical. We speak of ourselves as failures, instead of as having failed in that one task. We’re like the proverbial cat who, having sat on one hot stove, swore never to sit on any stove again.
Someone has quipped, “If Thomas Edison had given up that easily, you and
I would be watching television in the dark.” But he didn’t give up, not even after seven hundred “learning experiences.” All great discoveries have come about through trial and error. So will yours—whether it’s a cure for cancer, a new technique for communicating with teenagers, or a better mousetrap.
I’ve always been encouraged by the words of Charles Kettering: “You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.” And, like the turtle, you really will go nowhere at all unless you stick your neck out. So it’s back to our basic decision to act. To do something. I’ve heard psychologists say that action—any kind of action—is also a tremendous cure for depression, even if it’s no more than a walk around the block.
Take a Risk
Today is a good day to start believing that you don’t need to live a life of quiet desperation, fearful of any new challenge. Starting today, you can begin to enjoy using and developing your gifts. For a start, you may want to risk something small—like a toe rather than a neck.
For example, if you’ve always wanted to write, then write something, a short article, a poem, an account of your vacation. Write it as if it were going to be published; then submit it somewhere. If you’re a photographer, gather your best pictures together and submit them as entries in a contest. If you think you’re a fair tennis player or golfer, enter some tournaments and see how you do. You may not win the top prize, but, think how much you’ll learn and experience just by trying.
Or perhaps you’ve always felt weak in math, or foreign language, or bookkeeping. Enroll today in a basic, nonthreatening course at a local college or a community program. The fact that you may have received a poor grade in the subject at 16 has little bearing on how you’ll handle the subject matter at age 25, 30, 50, or 65.
Have you wanted to learn to play the piano? You can! Line up an instructor, set up a schedule for lessons, and set aside forty-five minutes a day for practice. In a year you’ll be amazed at how well you will do.
Gourmet cooking appeals to you? Get some new recipe books; experiment with one meal each week. So what if the soufflé is scorched the first time? The second one will be better. Before you know it, your culinary delights will be lauded and in demand—at least by your family.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly. But above all, try something.” It’s the only way you’ll ever begin to realize your God-given potential. And it can be the glorious beginning in your pursuit of a life of excellence.
Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s by failure that we learn and profit. Ted Williams, one of the greatest baseball batters of all time, failed six times out of ten in his best year when he batted .400! Learn from your failures and mistakes, and move on.
The Bible is replete with examples of how God turned people’s failures—and forgiven sins—into great triumphs. That’s His business.
David
Look, for example, at King David. David failed to discipline his sons, and as a result a whole chain of sorry events occurred. David failed to discipline Amnon after his immoral relationship with his sister, Tamar. This led David’s other son, Absalom, to avenge his sister by killing Amnon. Finally, the entire kingdom was totally disrupted when Absalom led a rebellion against his father.
Great warrior that he was, perhaps David lacked what many today are calling “tough love.” He had an obvious strong emotional attachment to his children, as when he wept for Absalom after he was killed leading a rebellion, but somehow he could not bring himself to discipline his children as was needed.
We also recognize that David failed to control his physical passions. When
David added to his sin with Bathsheba the sin of murder of her husband Uriah, a faithful warrior in his army, he demonstrated a basic character flaw in not being willing to own up to sinful behavior soon enough to avoid adding another sinful act as a cover-up.
Yet, despite his great failures, David stands as one of the truly great men of God and of all time. He was a man after God’s own heart in his devotion to Him and in his eagerness to honor Him and seek His glory. He did not shake his fist at God after a failure but repented and earnestly prayed that God’s Spirit would never be taken from him.
Sarah
Now look at Sarah. In her day, being childless in marriage was often construed as being a failure. A wife’s purpose and role were very closely related to rearing children and maintaining the family name and heritage. Sarah had to bear this sense of failure until she was ninety years old. An example of how deeply affected and hurt she was by this sense of failure can be seen in her harsh treatment of Hagar when she was able to bear the child Ishmael. Hagar fled to the wilderness in her despair at Sarah’s treatment of her. At the age of ninety, Sarah was undoubtedly a frustrated, disappointed, and bitter woman. It is understandable how she could laugh, though she denied it, when she overheard God telling her husband, Abraham, that she would bear a child. Yet Sarah is listed in the “Hall of Fame of Faith” in Hebrews 11. Her faith grew, and she drew strength from her deep faith in God. The apostle Peter uses her as a key example in his teaching of how wives are to relate to their husbands in honor and obedience (1 Peter 3:6).
Samson
Samson is another example: His failures are most evident in his relationships with women. Against the advice of his parents, he chose to marry a woman who evidently did not worship the Lord. This led to much bloodshed between his people and the Philistines and eventually to the death of his wife and her father.
Samson later entered into an immoral relationship with a harlot in the city of Gaza, and the people of that city sought to take his life. And, of course, what follows is the familiar story of the Philistines persuading the beautiful Delilah to entice Samson into telling her where he received his great and unusual strength. He made a game out of the whole situation, leading her along into many false assumptions about the source of his strength. But, finally, persistent Delilah persuaded him to tell her the truth. This led to Samson’s capture and imprisonment and eventually to the gouging out of his eyes. Yet, Samson was used greatly by the Lord in helping to rescue Israel from the tyranny of the Philistines. And despite his failures, he was God’s man, presiding over and judging the nation of Israel for twenty years.
Jonah
Then there is Jonah. The reluctance of Jonah to do what God had asked him to do stands out as a glaring example of great stubbornness and rebellion, and perhaps fear. His was no passive resistance, but rather an active effort to get as far away from the place and purpose of God as possible. He was told to go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim God’s great displeasure with the wicked and godless ways of the people there. When Jonah finally got turned around, in a most unusual manner, and did what he was told to do, he displayed a selfish anger with God and the people of Nineveh. Rather than rejoicing that they had repented and were responding favorably to God, he displayed a great deal of contempt and selfish anger toward both God and the Ninevites. Then Jonah went outside the city gates, and in his despair—and perhaps exhaustion—asked that his life might be taken.
Still, Jonah remains one of the great examples of a man delivered and used by God, almost in spite of himself. It is recorded that a whole city of people, favorably affected by Jonah’s preaching, turned away from their sins. And Jonah’s prayer for deliverance, one of the great prayers of the Bible, was even quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry.
Peter
Turning to the New Testament, we find the apostle Peter, who drew stern rebukes and was told of the shameful denial that he would make of his Lord. At one point, when Jesus was talking about the death that He would die, He perceived that the very thoughts of Satan were coming out of Peter’s mouth. And, of course, the three denials of Peter in the course of one evening, disowning any allegiance or association with Jesus, are familiar to all. Though he was irresistibly attracted to being with Jesus, for he knew that He held the very words of life, Peter could not readily accept the ways of Jesus. Even after Jesus had ascended to heaven, Peter had great difficulty in accepting many of the things he had been taught by Jesus.
The apostle Paul found it necessary to rebuke Peter and tell him face to face that he was showing prejudice and false standards in dealing with Jews and Gentiles. Yet, who could deny the greatness of Peter, the man who gave pivotal leadership to the early Christian church and was at the forefront of the earliest recorded people movements to Christ. His two New Testament epistles, which relate to bearing up under suffering, have provided great comfort and endurance for Christians throughout the centuries. His loyalty and devotion to Jesus Christ in his latter years have been an inspiration to all believers for two millennia.
The Bottom Line
God does not expect perfection; He expects obedience. And through obedience He can turn failures into triumphs.
Adapted from The Essential Engstrom: Proven Principles of Leadership by Ted W. Engstrom (Timothy J. Beals, Editor) © 2007. Published by Authentic. Used by permission.
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