I’m writing about failure for January because that’s when a lot of us set goals and resolve to be different in the New Year. All good and well to do so, but of course we know the statistics on that, don’t we? Most resolutions “fail.”
What a disappointing word!
Failure is also a point of emphasis in January because it is failure that led us to resolve to be different in the first place, and it is failure that will make us doubt those resolutions and goals when life becomes difficult, or temptation returns.
I had joked that I’d wait until the third week in January to send that email out because I needed time for all my resolutions and goals to break down to have some fodder for the email.
Good news! It only took eight days to have enough failures in the New Year to write about it! Don’t you feel so lucky!
Ugh.
I started a workout program in the New Year to kickstart my process of (1) keeping the previous year’s 30lbs off and (2) starting my next thirty pounds of loss. Within a few days, I threw my back out, with it spasming and cramping up tight as a stuck valve. I was in so much pain that I, yes even I, went to the doctor to ask for pain relief and a referral to physical therapy. I spend most of my time at my house on a heating pad in bed or on the floor.
All because I over-exerted myself like I knew I would but, in my denial, had figured wouldn’t hurt me that bad this time. This time would be different. I’m literally a walking definition of insanity for you to witness.
This back issue also killed my hopes for 10k steps a day, as on day eight of the New Year I succumbed to the pain and didn’t make my goal. The fact that I’d kept trying as much as I did probably further aggravated my back pain, but again…insanity.
I am technically still making my writing goal of 500 words a day, but only because I had a couple of solid writing days early in the month. I haven’t had a 500 word writing day in several days. Just more fodder for the newsletter.
I want to say you’re welcome, but even in tongue and cheek it’s embarrassing.
The Bible Speaks
The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot on non-moral failures. After all, it’s a guidebook on how to have a relationship with God. God seems to be less concerned with my failed New Year’s goals and more interested in how my heart is doing, which honestly isn’t super great as I wallow in my defeat.
We don’t read how Abram slaughtered the wrong lamb and missed out on a fourfold increase in his flock, all due to him misjudging the spring’s mating season that year. It may have happened. Maybe never did. It’s precisely because it isn’t a moral issue that we don’t hear about it. What we do hear about is that he said his wife was his sister, which nearly ruined the Pharoah. While just a half-lie, it was not a whole truth, and God had to intervene.
We don’t read about how David, while tending his father’s flock, let a couple of them loose inside the house, frustrating his mother to no end, and leaving him cleaning up quite a mess in the aftermath. Why? Because God was far more interested in David’s heart. That’s why we read about Bathsheba, David’s sinful actions with her, and God’s judgment. It is the moral failure that has God’s interest.
I could go on about moral failures because I have a lot of experience with those too, unfortunately. And Romans chapter one and several other places are ripe picking for those who want to stress the importance of strict adherence to God’s commands, even for those of us who believe in God’s gracious salvation.
What I want to stress today are the little failures, however, even those that are sometimes bigger than we want to admit. It may not be a moral failure to fail at my new workout regimen, or to miss my wordcount target for a few days in a row, but these failures, more than just stopping my yearly goals so quickly in the New Year, offer opportunity for the enemy to beat me down and to derail other areas of life. His aim is to take these non-moral failures and turn them into failures that affect my relationship with God.
I’m also behind on my daily Bible reading and that’s where these little goal failures start to pile up. It’s also where the Bible comes to the rescue.
Proverbs 24:16 (ESV) says, “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”
So, I read my Bible today. I’m four days behind as I write this and hope to be back on track in the coming week.
I can’t get back to working out because…well, my back…but I can get back up again by going to the physical therapist and asking him how to get better and move on. I can keep trying (smartly this time…not like I’m still 18 and in great shape).
I hope you will too.
Hey, did you set goals for 2024? I’d love to hear about them, and how they’re going so far. Good or bad. Let me know!
I’ll write about those moral failures in the next newsletter, because they are important, and the first hints of forgiveness, as we head toward Easter Sunday this year. I hope this article has blessed you!
