“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud; and He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.”
Psalm 40:2
Close your eyes and take 10 seconds to remember one of your most embarrassing moments. Got it? Okay, if you're anything like me, that moment was something that happened in front of someone else.
Easter morning 2022 I was walking across the South parking lot before the resurrection scene. I was in a hurry and not watching where I was going, and I tripped over one of the legs of a speaker stand and went down hard. I fell right in front of the grandstands where people were gathering to watch the resurrection scene. Luckily, I landed on my little finger on my right hand which cushioned my landing. Easter has come and gone, Pentecost is past, but I remember that day every time I look at my finger as I slowly loose my fingernail; it reminds of my failure.
Why is it so easy to remember our failures? I think it’s because we’ve been exposed. A fall in any arena of life shouts failure to our soul.
We wait for people’s response. Will they tell other people? Will they scold us the way we’ve
scolded ourselves? Will they tell us to pick up our feet? Will they use us as an example to the rest of the world, mocking what little dignity we have left?
Bob Goff writes, “We never forget the way people respond to us in our failures. Will they show
us empathy or forgiveness? Or will they kick us while we're down? The moments when people are most exposed are the times we can have the greatest impact on their lives, for better or worse. We can confront people with their failure or surround them with our love: Either way, we will be remembered.”
Who do you know who’s been experiencing failure lately? What can you show them about who they are instead?
Shalom,
Mike W.
