The wonder of failure

You may be getting tired of my quoting from books but when you read things that really speak to your heart or cause you to pause and say: 'Wow' it is lovely to be able to share that. Anyway, here is another (again from the Tutu book):

What might our lives feel like if we didn't march through them with a scorecard, keeping tally of our failures and successes? How would it be to stop pretending omniscience? Can you imagine being able to trust that the outcome of your efforts will be right, whatever the outcome? Even when it looks as though every effort is marked with failure?

My first reaction to this was to question its rightness. Yes, sometimes we can see that things that have been failures for us may have, in the end, led to something even better. Maybe a job we didn't get led to an even better, more interesting one. Maybe a breakup with a friend or partner led to a better self-understanding even through all the pain. But also, are there times when failure only stopped there? where failure led to failure?

I think the Tutu's are saying though that even when we ourselves cannot experience the failure as anything but failure, the longer term may show it to be much more positive. Though we may not have thought of it this way, for Christians, the most outstanding and life-giving failure was Jesus and his ministry. At least from his point of view, when, at the end everyone he counted on deserted him; when those he had chosen specially really didn't understand him, that seemed to be failure by anyone's standard.  Even today, his message is often so misused and misinterpreted or not lived, it sometimes seems that there is still no success. But the truth and love and power of his message did get through to many people – maybe not fast enough or powerfully enough for our liking but all the same, it will prevail I think. I think it will prevail because it is, basically, the same message as all the major religions. Therefore it seems  to be part of a universal drive from God to be fully human as Jesus was.

Maybe too, our culture right now doesn't help us. I would guess that every one of us experiences  failure and weakness but finds it hard in the current atmosphere to accept because we feel overcome and pressured by a world that basically has a very unhelpful idea of success.

Though obviously we do not/should not accept dishonesty, cruelty, lying in politicians or business  people or ourselves, still, when it does happen it is worth remembering I think, that every one of us is quite capable of these follies and perhaps much worse. When someone who seems really good and noble (maybe think the 2007/8 version of Barack Obama) we are shocked when we discover they are not the noble saint we thought. When that happens we often then cast the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, and reject everything they do and stand for. That does seem destructive both for our society and for ourselves.

I don't want to ramble on here but I guess if I had a hope for the year to come - or the years to come - it would be twofold: 1) that we could love ourselves and others as we are - lovely, weak, human and 2) that we could en-courage one another to behave well, to be courageous, to be compassionate, to be good and when we fall, as we will, that we will hold fast to one another in love.  

 Also: don't forget -  http://charterforcompassion.org/  It is such a great project.