Failure

My ballet teacher “taught me that if you really worked hard, you’d succeed, and that everything had to come from the inside.”
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey was a successful actress, mother and humanitarian who perfected the art of gracious living. Yet she never expected to become an actress, nor was she prepared for it. She trained as a ballet dancer, studying seriously from the age of 12. But she never fulfilled her dream to dance at Covent Garden. She and her mother had no money and lived in one room in London for eight years. She took a job in a musical to earn some money and then a small movie part. When the opportunity came for a lead part for an unknown actress she didn’t think she was ready, but overcame her underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority by being decisive and adopting a forceful and concentrated drive. In all she did, she worked very hard.
Sometimes fear of failure can cause us to be indecisive (what if we make the wrong decision) or a perfectionist (it’s never quite right). Proverbs 24:16 says, “A righteous man may fall seven times, but he gets up again.” God gives us his Holy Spirit and comes to live in us by his presence. He doesn’t come to live in people who are perfect or those who have been trying really hard to be good. God knows our hearts and comes to live inside those whose hearts have been changed- those who have invited him to come and make a difference in their life. Grace is God’s perfect antidote to our imperfections and failures. We can try and fail and pick up and start again because God accepts us as we are.
(inspired by and adapted from How to be Lovely by Melissa Hellstern and Diamond Geezers by Anthony Delaney)