Failing Forward

Sunday Omori

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Chris Bradford

As a new student on the Food Valley campus of the Wageningen University, one thing that caught my attention was the large number of bicycles parked daily in the premises. Most students and some lecturers go to and return from school by bicycle. Before leaving Nigeria, I never knew how to ride a bicycle. I thought I could do without it throughout my stay in The Netherlands, but a couple of weeks after my program commenced, I had no option than to acquire a bicycle and learn how to ride. I was not discouraged by the number of times I fell down while learning how to ride; not even the injury I had while learning made me to give up. I am glad that aside from the degree I obtained, one of my greatest achievements in Europe was knowing how to ride a bicycle.

Many inventions, products and services we are using today are from people who failed several times. Like Chris Bradford said, they kept trying after some failures until the products came to fruition. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. So failure makes one to learn from mistakes, sit back to think and explore better ways of achieving something. For us to keep enjoying new products and services, we must not avoid failure.

Have you failed a particular course as a student? Do not say, “This course is too difficult; I cannot pass it.” Find out why you failed the course, work smarter and make another attempt. Are you in business and it seems to be going down? Then come up with better strategies to make it successful. Whatever is your field of endeavor, you cannot achieve your dreams if you give in to failure. Robert Kiyosaki said, “Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” I know that you are not among the people who avoid success, so those failures you have recorded are signs that you are on the success lane.

One kind of fear that can hinder us from going into the next level of our lives or achieving our dreams is the fear of failure. So we need to be bold enough to face the fear of failure in order to phase it out of our lives. From my ‘bicycle’ story, I conquered the fear of failure and could join other students to ride a bicycle. The fear of failure makes us to think that we cannot achieve the thing we set out to do. If you do not conquer it, you will not be everything God has for you.

The good news is that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (see Philippians 4:13). Remember that God is with you as you go through the process of success. As a believer, you may have fallen several times – murmuring, grumbling, transgressing or committing other sins. Do not backslide; rise up, go back to the throne of grace, forsake that ungodliness and keep running the heavenly race (see Proverbs 24:16). In her book, “Never Give Up”, Joyce Meyer said, ”No one sets out to fail or wants to fail, but failure can be an important stepping stone on the way to success.

God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is always available to help those in the process of success. You can reach out to Him for wisdom and guidance, but you need to have a relationship with Him. If you do not have a relationship with God, say this prayer of salvation: Dear Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I accept You as my personal Lord and Savior. I believe that you died and rose again to save me. I declare that I am born again. I receive the gifts of forgiveness and righteousness. Thank You for accepting and glorifying me. Amen!

I declare an end to failure in your life in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!