First Baptist Church of Herndon

Fail to be Thankful

Linda Soller | Nov 20, 2017

If you’ve never failed at anything then you can stop reading right now. That’s what I thought, still reading aren’t you? I know they say that it’s okay to fail because you can learn from your failures. For some reason in the moment of failure that thought isn’t really comforting. If we’re honest with ourselves we must admit, we don’t like failure. Part of what we don’t like about failure is the unknown of what happens next.

The Bible is full of failures. Fact is, my personal opinion, there are more examples of failing than examples of true success stories. It’s because when dealing with humans, our emotions, and our decision-making skills there are just so many opportunities for us to fail. But just when all seems lost God enters the picture. In the Old Testament, He keeps forgiving His wayward children. The population can’t seem to stay on track for more than a decade or two. He selects leaders, who go astray. The common thread in these stories is when they fail at faith, they rarely fail to be thankful for God’s redemption. In the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples encounter human failings every day. They taught that God forgives our failings. It was a strong message and the “failures” of the world got it!  More importantly they didn’t fail to be thankful to God.

Back to you. Have you been feeling like a failure lately? Maybe you have just a few minor failings. Truth is, you may not be able to easily fix your situation or become a sudden success. But you don’t have to fail to be thankful. No matter how rough things may seem, you woke up today to a world of opportunity. You know God will forgive you and be there for you. You may burn the turkey, eat too much pie, or hurt Great Aunt Sally’s feelings, but however many little failures you experience, don’t fail to be thankful for God’s love and redemption.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!  :o) Linda

The Drop-in class is thankful we can be here for Richard, William, Virginia and Ray in their time of sorrow. We may have failed to let Emma know just how much we loved her, but we remain eternally thankful to have had her in our lives.