Try, Try Again!

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

One of my favorite things about Crossfit is that it teaches people how to handle their failures appropriately. Too many of us are afraid of failure, and because of this we don't risk, and therefore miss out on opportunities for joy. It is fun to set a PR, but if I am so afraid of missing that I don't even attempt it, I will never grow as an athlete. So many times I will have an athlete (most of the times it's a female) who misses a weight and then is afraid to try again. After a little encouragement, I can usually coax them into giving it one more shot, and many times the second time is a success.

We have to be okay with failing sometimes. I also think we have to reconsider what we qualify as failing. To fail is to not try again, or to dwell on the past. A good friend and mentor of mine once wrote me a letter, in which he stated "there is no failure in the eyes of our Maker if you have not forsaken Him in the midst of it." This statement, when taken as truth, evokes a sense of freedom in me. We have to be able to put things behind us when we are not perfect. The apostle Paul hints at this in Philippians 3 when he says "not that I already have obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Whether it is missing a weight, letting your boss/family/friends down, or feeling like you are failing in your journey to know Christ more, we have to put our shortcomings behind us and move forward. I have noticed that when brothers of mine fall into sin, I am quick to remind them of the grace afforded to them in the cross, but when I fall into sin I have a much harder time believing that the same grace is available to me. The way I see it, if God is willing to look past my failures, I'd better be willing to also. If I don't, I am holding on to something that Christ has already paid for and saying that my sin was more powerful than the atoning work of Christ on the cross.. To me, the bigger failure would not getting back on the horse, staying down when I fall.

Get back under the bar. Keep striving to grow into oneness with Christ.

Blessings