Don’t Be Afraid of Failure (2)

‘A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again...’ Proverbs 24:16 NKJV

Star baseball players only hit the ball about three out of every ten times. How do they live with such a high failure rate? By focusing on the law of averages. They know that if they just keep swinging the bat, they’ll get on base. In 1952 Roger Bannister ran in the Olympics and finished in fourth place, failing to win any kind of medal. But he refused to quit. Up until this time many experts considered it humanly impossible to run the mile in under four minutes. Yet that was Bannister’s goal. And on 6 May 1954, he became the first man to do it. Now runners do it regularly. What’s the point? If you refuse to quit when you fail, you’ll ultimately succeed. You just have to be willing to get back up and keep moving forward. In 1832 Abraham Lincoln was defeated for the State Legislature. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1835 his sweetheart died. In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. In 1838 he was defeated for Illinois House Speaker. In 1843 he was defeated for nomination to Congress. In 1854 he was defeated for the US Senate. In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President. In 1858 he was defeated again in a US Senate race. But today he is considered one of America’s greatest presidents. A wise man concluded: ‘It’s a mistake to suppose that people succeed only through success; they often succeed through failures.’ And you’re not defeated until the past takes your focus off the future. So don’t be afraid of failure.