FACING UP

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 1, 5 June 1984, Page 15

FACING UP

For twenty-eight years Abraham Lincoln experienced one failure after another. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. He ran for speaker in 1838 and lost. Then in 1848 he lost renomination to Congress and was rejected for Land Officer in 1849. In 1854 he was defeated for Senate and two years later he lost the homination for Vice President and was again defeated for the Senate in 1858. Yet despite it all, in 1860 he was elected President and wient down in history as one of the greatest Presidents of America. Obviously, success isn't the absence of failure. It is having the determination to never quit as the old saying goes, "Quitters never win and winners never quit." There are many people who have achieved worthwhile goals in life who have not only experienced failure, but experienced it many times. Like Lincoln, Walt Disney was the same. He went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he became successful. Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun both failed courses in Maths. Henry Ford was broke when he was forty. Thomas Edison'l teacher called him a dunce and later he failed over 14,000 times before he perfected the first electric light bulb.

It is the fear of failure that cripples people. To overcome failure, a person not only needs sheer determination but also a noble cause to believe in and live for, with the courage to fight for that cause regardless of failures and set-backs. The cause does not have to be as mighty as Lincoln's, but it needs to be meaningful. Everybody needs something bigger thari himself to live for. Perhaps there is no greater way to overcome feelings of failure than to know what God wants you to become and do with your life. He wants you to achieve something worthwhile, not necessarily spectacular, say even to become a better person to live with. When you are striving for and living in harmony with God and your family and friends you know that you have God on your side and that he gives you the faith, courage and determination to go on. Be assured that no matter how many times you have failed God, he will continue to love you.

T

Melbourne