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The Alphabet, Failures, and Rubber Bands
By Julie | November 29, 2007
Marc and I make a monthly pledge to K-Love. As part of pledging they send us a small devotional. Each day has a half-page inspirational piece. I read mine everyday. It’s so easy to find sources, in people, the media and life in general, for mental downers. And mental downers try to stay with me so much longer then the good stuff. So, I cling to my K-Love devotional. Because I know everyday, no matter what depressing facts come my way, my little booklet will say something to lift my spirits. And surprisingly, most days the topic touches on exactly what I’m going through personally. God has to be at work in them.
This week a couple of the passages have stayed with me, and really encouraged me through the week’s stickiness, like watching my son get stitches (I know it’s a little thing when so many people have to handle so much more. But that was hard to witness. Did I mention I’m not good with blood? At all!) So, a few of the inspirations, I thought I’d pass on to you.
One talked about the “rubber band theory”. Meaning, a rubber band is not useful until it’s stretched. But, it also reaches a point where, if you don’t let up, it’s going to break. The passage made the metaphor of people being like rubber bands. So often, we get comfortable where we are in life, because we are afraid to stretch ourselves, afraid we’ll go too far out of our comfort zone, and we’ll break. It could be our finances, our relationships, even a home improvement project. So, instead of accomplishing something great, we never try. Not only do we not over-stretch, we stop stretching altogether. Or, if we do try, things get a little tough, we feel stretched, we start getting scared it will break, so we stop. How often have we stopped, right before things were about to get really good?
I know in my own life (and I’ve read many successful people say the same thing), when I tell people what you want to accomplish, I’ve learned to prepare to hear a list of reasons why it’s stupid. It will never work. Don’t even bother. You don’t have the time or the money. Why do you think you’re capable of that? I don’t know, maybe someone out there would appreciate it, but you are never, ever in a million years going to attract, fill in the blanks (I say blanks because usually a list of various people or demographic groups follow). That criticism alone can make you feel stretched to the point of breaking before you even begin! You have to learn to silence those voices, or you never will start. I’m so guilty of not being able to shut them up in mind.
Another passage I read talked about failure. As humans we can be so hard on ourselves, dwelling on every one of our accomplishments that, well, we didn’t accomplish. But, when you look in the Bible, and through history, successful people tend to be people who failed, some of them failed big. I mean, David killed a man to have his wife! But he was a successful man! Part of success is failure.
I have been teaching my son the alphabet, we are up to J. Until we got to F, he flat out refused to write letters without my help. Because he was afraid to fail. I tried to tell him that he would not do it perfectly the first time, because he had to learn it first. But, he still believed he was a failure if he did not write perfect letters the first time. Now, he’s trying on his own. I try so hard to reassure him. Some of his letters are wobbly. Some are almost indecipherable. But, some are nearly perfect. And he is so proud of what he’s doing, even the letters we can’t read.
For some reason, we tend to believe it’s okay for children to have a learning curve. But adults just need to stick to one thing, and leave the rest up to the experts, because if we don’t, we’ll fail. But, maybe, we’ll just be a little wobbly for awhile. Sometimes it may look pretty bad. But, once in awhile, even while learning, we’ll do something nearly perfect. And maybe the rush we get from it will be enough to make us want to continue, on the off chance we may just figure it out. What’s the alternative? Sitting home, getting worked up about characters on a TV show that don’t exist? For me, the natural rush of learning something new beats out TV any day!
How many inventions that would make the world a better place don’t exist because the inventor is afraid of failure? How many books that could change lives are not written because the writer is afraid of failure? How many volunteer slots at worthy charities need filled because that volunteer is afraid of failure? And on and on and on.
I don’t know where you’re at today. You may be putting your all into something, but you see no sign it will ever pay off. Are you about to quit? Maybe the rubber band needs stretched just a little bit tighter, then it will be released, and you’ll take off. Do you have dreams you are afraid to try, because you have 20 people telling you it will never work? Where are they telling you from? Are they sitting on the couch watching TV, too afraid to work on their own dreams? Then don’t let them stop you, they don’t have the motivation to really try anyway. And maybe your efforts are a threat to them; because when you try, they’ll be forced to recognize they aren’t trying. No matter what you choose to do, you will always have critics. Since you can’t satisfy them all, ever, (and if you did, 30 more would rise up in their places) then do what your dreams are calling you to do. It’s possible they are in the very direction God’s been calling you to. And if you have a God-inspired dream, he’ll lead it, and it will work.
Wherever you are in life, maybe with some dreaming, and some hard work, you could end up where you want to be.
Just something to think about.
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