… we all love a winner’s story, when the naysayers said it can’t be done and then he did it, she did it, proving everyone wrong. The story of Tiger Woods touched me, I particularly love the small video that was put out showing various people commenting that he was washed out and he should retire, quit the game, and yet he did it, he won a masters, what a heart warming story of victory! We love that, a very happy ending, or at least I love it.
But what happens when they say we are no good, we will fall and fail and we refute the assertions and we say ‘no’ and we set out to prove everyone wrong, but rather than prove them wrong, we prove them right, very right indeed, we fall flat on our face, we fail miserably even though we tried hard and they laugh and jeer and mock. We are ashame and embarrass, we feel small, very small indeed, wrong and irrelevant and we want to bury our head and hide forever, never to be seen. They told is we could never win a race, we believe we could and we set our heart on it and again we set out to prove them wrong and we entered the race in the full glare of the whole world and rightfully or wrongfully so, not only did we not win, we came last, the very last, we were so ashame, deeply embarrass, we walked away from the track with our heads bent and tail between our legs.
They told us we will fail in the business and we did, they told us we could not marry right and they were right, we ended up with a serial cheater and physical abuser. They told us we will amount to nothing and they were on point, we dropped out of school, get kicked off our inconsequential job, hanged out with the wrong group and got hooked on drugs. They told us our Ministry will not grow and we will amount to nothing and yes there is no one in our church just 2 people. They told us we are a lousy writer and we will hardly get a single ‘like’. They told us we are no good at what we do and they are right, we bring in the wrong people, yes the ceiling is falling down, the boiler is not working, the pipes are leaking, the electrics is wired wrongly, the window is broken, the rubbish is not being collected, the fire alarm has packed up and the furniture are rubbish! We are embarrass!
One of the worse feelings for me is that of embarrassment. I can handle almost anything but embarrassment is such a bitter pill for me to swallow. I remember one cold windy winter morning in 1987, it was so windy, trees were falling, fences were collapsing all over the place, it was a mayhem, I was rushing to catch a bus, about to miss it, I decided to run, before I could figure out was happening, I tripped on something and I was down on the ground in public view. While on the ground, I could feel my whole body and it didn’t look like I had hurt anywhere, basically I could get up right away, but I was so embarrassed, I couldn’t face the people around, so I just lied right there, it was cold, in no time I was shivering vigorously. A crowd had gathered round me, a good Samaritan was already doing all kind of stuff on my, shouting that he was first aid trained, another person had call an ambulance, in no time, I was wrapped in a foil blanket, rushed to the hospital. After all examination I was sent packing as they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. Of course there was nothing wrong me! but maybe there was, I was embarrassed. Embarrassment was what was wrong with me. Embarrassment has led a lot of people to do some truly incredulous stuff.
But what are we to do, when the enemy is proven right and we have fallen, failed or just turned out as they have predicted? All that is left to do is that we set our eyes like a flint, we brace up, we stand tall, we square up, we dust whatever dirt we can from our shoulders and with whatever scars and bruises left we match on like a soldier. The uniform does not make a soldier, it is the spirit within that does.
The enemy can never be right has long as we never give up, as failure is just an event, it is never a person, a person that is continually trying can never be a failure even if he never reaches his destination, it is all in the indomitable spirit. The spirit that never gives up, that says I will try one more time, irrespective of the number of times we fall.
“And what about the feeling of embarrassment?” you ask. You take the embarrassment and spread it like marmite on your bread of endeavours and with gritted teeth and squirted face your eat the beast whole, you belch and wash it down with the water of discpline and give praise to Him that gave you the grace and chance to try just one more time.
No, the enemy is never right and embarrassment will never stop us!
Beautiful Ivory 