In case you just tuned in, I have declared the week of August 6-12 to be Celebrate a Failure Week the world over. The purpose of this week is to focus on the role that failure has played in your development and success. You can check out the previous weeks' posts to learn how you can celebrate, but the main way is to spend some time reflecting on failure, your response to it, and its possible benefits. So that you know you are not celebrating alone, I had a few failures this past week that I am celebrating, and I wanted to share them with you as we head toward August 6.
FAILURE NUMBER 1
As you may know, I started a publishing company a few years ago, and things have been going quite well. There are many challenges in publishing today, not the least of which is producing an author's manuscript with which they are pleased. I have been working with an author for the last 22 months and met with this author recently to see if we were ready to move on from writing to publishing. Over a meal, however, the author reported that the manuscript still wasn't satisfactory, and that the author had decided to move on in another direction. Bottom line: I had failed to produce something that was acceptable to my client.
What has my response been? I am celebrating! That failure has led me to re-evaluate my approach to editing, which in many ways has been passive. I have such respect for someone's creative project that I am sometimes too careful not to inject what I think will work in the process. It's too early to report any other conclusions, but I will continue to learn from that failure so I can be a better editor and coach.
FAILURE NUMBER 2
I am in the process of finalizing another container to Kenya that contains 25,000 library books, along with a lot of other supplies (you can read how you can help in my most recent blog entry). A friend and I went to a meeting of a unique group of women who meet four times a year to listen to projects that will impact women in the U.S. or around the world. They then vote, and the "winner" receives $100 from each of the women who are part of this organization. It is a great concept.
My friend and I went in January, made our presentation, but did win the vote. This past week we went and were not even selected to make a presentation. We failed! In January we struck out (or missed the penalty kick for my soccer friends), but in July we didn't even get into the game! What has my response been to that failure? It has been the same as a high jumper who knocks off the bar; I am ready to jump again!
I have revisited why I am doing what I do in Kenya in the first place. I have gone back and reminded myself of how the Lord has provided in the past. And I am praying more fervently than before I went to meeting, asking, "Lord, what am I missing? Open my eyes to see Your provision!" It is interesting that as I was writing my blog post this morning, someone donated $1,000 before I ever finalized the post! I am reminded today that God is able to provide for the shipping.
I am using both failures to be thankful for my successes. I am also using them as learning lessons along the way, so that they are not really failures, but installments in my education. My failures this week will make me a better writer, a better editor, a better servant of the people in Kenya, and for all those reasons and more, I celebrate my failures! Yes, they were humbling, but humility always comes before honor!
Do you have any failures you would like to share with my readers? If you do, then feel free to attach them as a comment on the site where this entry is posted. Thank you and let's make August 6 a special day as we collect our failure stories, and give glory to God for His ability to bring good out of almost any bad situation.
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