Along the Way

M2MS

When you fall pick something up.

This pithy proverb speaks three lessons. First, a fall is inevitable. It says when you fall; not if you fall. We are born to blunder; that's our inheritance from Adam. Don't despair and give up; get up!

Second, when you find that you have chosen to walk down the wrong path, turn around! When you fall get back up! Although we all blunder, by God's grace, we are destined for for something better. That's our hope: we don't have to stay down and wallow in our failure. God has granted us an incredible gift for escaping the grip of our sins: repentance. This word may sound archaic; conjuring up an image of a grimacing young monk bent over in an act of self-flagellation. No, repentance is a beautiful picture. Like the prodigal son rescued from homelessness to honor; rags to riches; loneliness to lavish love. It's the picture of Ebenezer Scrooge transformed from a grumpy grasping fiend into a giddy giving friend.

Repentance is not something you do to gain God's favor. It is simply the act of changing your mind to return to the place of God's favor. It's a transformation of perspective about what got you down; about the wrong choices that you've made; that there is a better way to live.

Third, learn something from the failures in your life and make the necessary course corrections that will take you to the place of grace. Pick something up! Failure plus failure plus failure plus repentance and God's grace equals success.