Don’t Focus On Failure

October 2012 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Don’t Focus On Failure

It was the beginning of the the high school track season, and the new runners were trying various events to see which one might best suit them. The coach watched one runner who was trying to become a high hurdler. And he was having trouble with all aspects of that event. Not only was he finishing way behind the other runners as they ran practice heats, but he was also hitting the hurdles with his leading foot, which caused him to stumble and sometimes even fall.

After watching for a while, the coach called him aside and told him to watch the team’s best high hurdler, concentrating on his uniform stride between each hurdle. Then he asked, “What’s the relationship between his stride and the hurdles?” The young runner watched for awhile, then said, “I see it! He’s taking each hurdle in his stride. It’s like they’re not even there!”

The coach then told him, “If you want to become a really good hurdler don’t focus so much on overcoming the obstacles, but always focus on the finish line at the end of the race. As you develop your stride, you will learn to overcome the hurdles without ever breaking stride. Focus on the hurdles and you’ll stumble; focus on the goal and you’ll learn to take each hurdle in stride on your way to the goal. The way you run the race depends on your focus.”

Spiritually speaking, if we develop our stride with the Lord in mind while running the faith race, we’ll be able to overcome obstacles more easily because our pace will be sure, strong, and directed toward Jesus. But if we focus on and worry about each obstacle, our progress will be uneven and the hurdles will surely stumble us, and maybe even cause us to fall. And that hurts!

To learn more about overcoming failure, read this month’s Features.

By Larry Ondrejack