Weekly Lesson

If at First You Don’t Succeed...

A few years ago, my mother gave me one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever had. She told me that one of the things she admired about me the most is my ability to lift myself up by my bootstraps and keep going even after all the problems I’ve faced. Now, I’m not saying that to be conceited, I’m saying it to make a point. God reminded me of this because of the lesson He’s been teaching me lately. I know you all have heard it, so feel free to say it out loud with me… “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” I had just read those very words in one of my personal devotional books when God gave me the lesson visually. I was at the park with my daughter, and I looked up to find a father and mother trying to teach their little girl to ride her first two-wheeler. Each time her parents let go of the bike, she would ride alone for a couple of seconds, and then fall to the side, catching herself as she went. What amazed me is that she kept trying without her parents having to beg her to do so. Each time she fell, she got right back up on the bike. It was so awesome to watch! Now, eventually she did take a break (as we all need to do at times), but this little girl definitely had some determination! I was grateful to have been there through her process.

Now, we’ve all heard this lesson a time or two; and it sounds easy enough, right? We love to hear it, and it certainly can be inspirational. But what about those times when you’ve tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried some more? What about those times when you’re just tired of trying? We all get this way. It’s that time when we’ve done all we know how to do, and things still don’t seem to be happening. There are two things we must remember when facing those tough times… when we just can’t seem to go anymore.

1) It’s ok to take a rest. God made provisions for rest. He wants us to do that so that we may restore ourselves physically and mentally to keep up the work that He has set before us. And in those times we can “Be still and know” that He is God. (Psalm 46:10)

2) Wait and hope. The King James Version of the Bible states “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31). The NIV version, however, substitutes the word wait with the word hope. If you think about it, most situations where you are hoping for something good to happen, waiting is usually involved.

A poem called Never Quit written by Felipe Gomez sums up this lesson. I hope that each of you are blessed by it:

When things go wrong and sometimes they will when the road you are struggling in Is a twisted hill When you need help and the debts are high, you want to smile But you have to sigh When care is pressing you down a bit rest if you must But never quit Life is hard during its twists and turns as everyone of us Sometimes learns And many a failure will turn about when we might have won Had we stuck it out Never give up though the pace seems slow you just may succeed With another blow You never can tell how close you are it may be near and still seem so far Stick to the fight when at your hardest hit its when things seem worse That you must never quit