failure

I want to write music.

So what if I’ve never been good at it, I feel like maybe if I do it wrong enough times in a row then my chances of getting one right increase exponentially.

I think we look at failure the wrong way. I know that unless God intervenes in my creative processes, I will never write a song I think should be recorded–and thus I have failed in my attempts at songwriting. I fail every day, owing God more with every passing hour (that’s a great song by the way, LOVE that song). But the truth is, we expect so much from ourselves that we’re destined to be discouraged unless we get really honest.

I have no expectations for my music, but I love the process. And the point isn’t that I make mistakes…continually. The point is that there is a process going on in my life that is helping me become more like Christ. If I focus on my many failures and what I’m not, I’ll never be anything else. If all my energy is expended to beat myself up for being a product of the fall, there won’t be any of it left to lift up my eyes to my Creator — who has not only created me physically, but who is still in the process of creating a follower of His name inside me.

Romans 6 has a beautiful explanation of grace and righteousness. Notice especially that “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” WALK IN NEW LIFE. Live like you’re free. When you recognize that you aren’t bound to your old self any more, you realize that you now have the ability to be righteous where you didn’t before — and it becomes a joy to live righteously. And when you find joy in obedience, that’s when you know you’re free. You can screw up honestly, many times even, and it can (and should) bother you. But even when you do, you can enjoy the beauty of the process you’re experiencing that is bringing you closer every day to what you were meant to be.

And failure really just isn’t all that bad.