A texting exchange this week says “Sorry we failed.”
The reply “You didn’t fail. You just learned that the time isn’t right for that group of people.”

Like a plant sitting in a sunny spot when it prefers shade, this isn’t a failure.  It is a learning process for the plant owner to discover the best location.

Think about the way the furniture is arranged in your home. Did you get it right on the first try? Probably not unless your den allows only one arrangement. After a while you may have tried something else. We can arrange and rearrange. Add. Eliminate. Working, enduring the process until it is a right fit for the desires of those who use the space. Did your Christmas tree require a temporary change-up in the furniture and then you LIKED IT? Yay! This is the discovery of what works. For you. For your situation. For what is best for the gifts, talents, schedules and families of the people involved.

When there is a solution to be found, we can’t view our attempts as mistakes. Let’s change our perspective. If our feet hurt, we change shoes. It doesn’t mean our feet are bad. It means those shoes are better suited for another person’s feet.

We don’t just stop trying when our baby doesn’t like to eat food. We keep trying other foods. We endure. We persist. {to continue firmly in a course of action in spite of difficulty, opposition or failure} It is like the gift of modern medicine. One must eliminate what doesn’t work in order to find out what does work when there isn’t an obvious diagnosis.

What do we call it when we stop trying to find solutions to a given problem?

QUITTING?

Is there something that you have been trying and can’t find a workable solution? Have you already asked several close friends for ideas? Try asking someone outside your circle. Ask someone 10-15 years older than you. Seek a local expert or the recommendations of a reputable author on that subject.

Look for progress in the process.

Celebrate the number of possibilities that haven’t worked. You are one step nearer to the answer that does work. Don’t lose heart when “the world’s” recommendations don’t work for your personal situation.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV

Look for what can IMPROVE your circumstances. That may not change the situation completely, but it will help in the process of enduring and persisting through the situation. Where are you in the learning process?

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:11-13 NIV

Lord, help us to see with new eyes all the possible solutions you have set before us. Give us a fresh view and inspire us with resources by your hand. In Jesus’ name. Amen.