Dare to Dream: Failure Is Not Final

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:”

Eccesiastes 3:1 

Since there is a time for every purpose under heaven, there is time to slow down and reflect on our actions.

But when we’re driving toward our dreams, that isn’t a rest stop we frequent. However, failure has a way of triggering the “check engine light” of our hearts. When we proceed without slowing down, engine failure can shut down our dreams completely.

While working as a correctional officer, I remember a shift where time seemed to slow down dramatically causing me to reflect deeply. Upon reflection, it was the experience that ended my career in law enforcement.

I was going through my daily duties of popping inmates in and out of their cells at the floor officers’ direction, when I saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. An inmate was running from the second floor tier down the stairs with another inmate chasing after him. He was being attacked with a knife! Training kicked in like a reflex. I hit the alarm for
reinforcements, opened the doors to the housing unit, and grabbed a gun.

The housing unit observation booth where I was stationed was directly above the housing unit floor providing a panoramic view. In the booth, you control all the cells on the floor below as well as the gates that let people in or out of the housing unit.

It’s only you up there, but you’re watching the entire housing unit, especially your fellow officers on the floor below. There are different weapons accessible to officers for keeping the peace, some designed for control and some lethal.

I was yelling at both inmates to “get down, get down” and they eventually did, but I hadn’t grabbed the proper weapon. My sergeant arrived after both inmates were cuffed and made a quick assessment. He let me know that I had the shot and he was right.

An officer’s responsibility is to use the appropriate level of force to keep the peace as they were trained. I may have been authorized in using lethal force that day, but I chose a less lethal option. I had failed to uphold my oath as an officer.

The “check engine” light came on. It was time to reflect. We don’t always know how we’ll respond in challenging situations, but slowing down to reflect after failure helps us to work through the weight of failure. Even when we’ve put considerable effort into something, we must respond to the “check engine” light when failure flashes.

This is hard to do because failure can be heavy. It shows you what you’re not … what you can’t do. Sometimes we are confronted about it directly, adding to the emotional pain of the failure.

Self reflection is not a navel gazing pity party. Rather, by considering failure honestly, we grow through the learning that comes with it. Each day that the hood of our smoking failures isn’t lifted, is one more day we miss out on the wisdom to stop driving around in circles.

However, even our worst failures are light and momentary. Lean into the learning. Trust God to show His strength in our weaknesses. Failures try us by testing our trust in God. He desires genuine trust. Re-tests may come if we resist learning what God desires to teach us because God disciplines those he loves.

Without learning from our failures, we can’t lay aside the weights and sins that keep us from running with endurance. Second chances arise when we strip off the heaviness of failure and sin to run with endurance.

Wayne Schmidt Serving Aspiring Elder Entrepreneurs

I strive to connect people to the possibilities of God’s greater purpose for their lives in creative and encouraging ways.

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