What If... You Wouldn't Fail?

“What would you do today if you knew you wouldn't fail? Then go out and do that.” It's a quote from the new movie New Year's Eve. It's a fun movie if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing it yet. But the quote is what has stuck with me.

I am not quite sure why it has resonated so much with me. Perhaps it is because I haven't quite figured out what I would do. I think as we grow and evolve what we would do changes. I don't know that I grow and evolve every day but I do know that what I would do changes almost daily. But I'm not even sure that is the point that I have gathered from the quote.

You see, I never really knew what I wanted to do. I think a lot of people figure it out early. They just know what they are meant to do. They feel it. They are supposed to be a doctor or a nurse or even an artist. They cannot imagine life without doing that one thing that they love. An artist cannot imagine painting every day. A doctor cannot imagine NOT saving lives. It seems for me I've always been searching. Maybe I should be a realtor. Maybe I should be a jewelry designer with her own line. Maybe I could be a best selling author, I just need to remember my dreams then write a book about it. It worked for Stephenie Meyer. I have no idea how she was able to create an entire book series based on a dream she had. Mostly because she was and is married with children. When did she find the time? By the time all of my kids are in bed and I have a minute to myself, I have nothing left. I'm exhausted and ready to just stare blankly at the mindless drivel on the television and play spider solitaire. But then I have never really been very good with time management.

Mostly though it has struck me that the only thing that really holds us back from doing what we were meant to do is us. Our fear. Our lack of self confidence. Our lack of time management even. What do we do with our time when we could be pursuing our dreams? Philippians 4:13 says “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Do you understand what that means? You can do EVERYTHING. Who gives you strength? Well if you believe in God our Father and you cling to his promises then you know it is Him who gives you strength. If God who is BIG is giving you your strength you can do everything. I think the point here is not whether or not you would fail, I think it's in your definition of failure. God's definition isn't the same as ours. Truly I think the only way we can fail is if we don't try. This has been a very tough lesson for me to learn.

In my fear I have been unable to try many things. I have a lot of good excuses too. If you could make a living at coming up with excuses why you could not do something I could be very successful in that field. I get an email from Women of Faith every day. In my email today from them was a story about a 16 year old girl who attempted to sail around the world. The last paragraph in the email said this “I will definitely attempt to sail around the world again. In fact, I can't wait for the chance to try again. I might succeed and I might not. A lot of times the things that are most worth doing involve risk, and I'm living proof that not everything works out the way you planned. But I have learned an important truth: In stepping out and trying to achieve great things, the only way I can truly fail is never to try at all.” Abby Sunderland. She is 16 years old and she gets it. The only way we can truly fail is to not try at all.

What are you afraid of? What would you do today if you knew you wouldn't or couldn't fail? Well for me I think you need to adjust your definition of failure. Maybe I will write, maybe I'll do something else that God calls me to do. But whatever it is, I won't fail if I attempt it. The only failure would be to not do it at all.