Failures and Second Chances

*Note of Caution: I'm well aware that many may find this post a little cheesy or too sappy. Just fair warning...

As I was reading this morning, my mind began to wander to other areas of my life, as is usual for me while I read.  One of the thoughts that popped into my mind as I noticed my roommate's (and good friend) textbook and notepad on the table next to me, was how excited I am for him to be back in school after 12 years away due to difficulties with health and finances, and many other things.  He's mentioned before the fear of failing, and so as I thought about him stepping back out into areas of life where there are plenty of chances for failure, I felt very elated for him to be taking those chances in hopes of gaining greater rewards.

I reflect back on my own life up to this point, and I always am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord in my life.  I am quite familiar with the experience of "failing", and the Lord has blessed me abundantly with second chances in my life.  In fact, I remember thinking to myself how my entire life seemed to be composed of second chances in different areas.  Fortunately, although not having perfected any of the areas of my life, I feel that I have tried very hard to utilize those chances rather than take them for granted...at least most of them.  How grateful I am for mercy in my life whether it be from a loving God, my colleagues, my peers, my professors (many, many times from them!), my family, whomever.

So, I would suggest that life is about mercy and about failing, but even more so life is about second chances.  I love the line that the dad of a young Bruce Wayne, in the movie Batman Begins, speaks to him where he tells Bruce, "We fall so that we can get back up again."  So if you're like me, and I suspect that many others really are, and you find yourself getting frustrated at times with the fact that you feel like you're failing or falling short in different areas of your life, I'd encourage you to stop and think about what you can be proud of in way of the fact that at least you're attempting; and that as long as you're willing to keep trying, it doesn't matter how often you fall.  Just take a moment, if need be, dust yourself off, and get back up again.  Great accomplishments are on the horizon.