As I’ve been reading the book Charis—The Power of Grace, I have been inspired time and again to look at failure from a totally new perspective.
As a recovering perfectionist, it’s often a great challenge for me to take a risk.
What if things don’t go right?
What if I fall flat on my face?
I think we’ve all had these questions go through our minds, holding us back from walking into all that God has destined for our lives.
What’s worse is when you’ve already failed.
When you’ve already fallen flat on your face.
You know what? I totally get that. I’ll be honest right now and admit that failure is exactly why I’m tempted to walk away from music and totally embrace writing as my only creative outlet.
Music is too much in the moment.
Too much can go wrong.
Okay—in the spirit of full disclosure. … the last time I led worship, too much did go wrong. I felt like a fool. I felt like a failure. I felt like I couldn’t honestly even call myself a musician because I’d made too many mistakes.
I have been hesitant to even play piano for myself—at home. Playing piano in public has literally become unthinkable for me because all of those negative emotions come flooding back at even the thought of it.
Writing is safer.
I can spend hours editing, correcting and perfecting before the world is allowed to see my craft.
But this fear of greater failure, birthed by the disappointment of past failure, has held me back far too long. I’ve invested too many hours of my life in music lessons to just walk away.
So, I am printing out this quote and hanging it in a place where I’ll see it every day.
This is a quote from the book Charis—The Power of Grace.
It reminds me failure doesn’t define me. It isn’t who I am. It shouldn’t hold me back. It was an event. It happened, it passed and today is a new day.
Even more, it reminds me failure is really only another opportunity to try again.
This quote has helped me to completely redefine failure in my life, and I hope it will help you, too, to redefine failure.
It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. {eoa}
Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.
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