“Jeremiah said to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: “When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they return back?”‘” — Jeremiah 8:4
Beauty In Failure
Last year on the Sports Spectrum podcast I asked former NFL kicker John Carney what was the biggest lesson that he was learning from God at that moment. His answer was really great: “Courage to fail.”
In sports, failure is inevitable. It happens to everyone, even the all-time greats.
Michael Jordan once said, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Whether it is with your marriage, your family, your job, or even your faith, we all make regretful decisions. We all fail. We all do dumb things.
And yet, there’s beauty in the failure. There’s something wonderful about doing your best, falling short and not giving up. There’s beauty in continuing to not give in, continuing to get back up, continuing to move forward.
Just because you fail does not mean you’re a failure. You are not a failure. You are loved. You are cherished. You are important. You are valuable.
So when you stumble, get back up. Keep fighting. Keep leaning on the only One whose love is never failing. And keep on keeping on.
Greater things have yet to come.
— Jason Romano, Sports Spectrum Podcast Host
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
