I count it all joy, to face trials, says St. James.
I consider everything else as rubbish because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, says St. Paul.
Thoughtthe righteous fall seven times, they rise again, the but wicked stumble when calamity strikes, states the Proverb.
No branch can bear fruit by itself, says Jesus.
We succeed because Christ succeeded. We fail because we go it alone. And most of Jesus' teachings seem to put success as failure and failure as success. He turns the world upside down -- greeting, loving, serving, worthiness -- and big is small and little is huge.
That is why we laugh, because the world cannot see what we see, because they don't see Jesus.
And so let's laugh, successfully, unless I fail.
Here is something I wrote for the BGSU newspaper in college, 47 years ago:
Succeeding at Failure a Success
Dr. Rufus Putnam, asst. professor of psychology, recently received the Norman Vincent Peale award given annually for contributions to the field of positive thinking.
The national honor, which includes $1,000 and a subscription to Guideposts, went to Putnam for his doctoral thesis on success and failure, entitled, “Success and Failure.”
I interviewed Putnam recently in his office in the Psychology Building. He was quick to begin describing his thesis.
“We often confuse true success and failure,” he began, “because it is not a simple idea.
“We are faced with a question of which is greater-one who fails to succeed or one who succeeds in failing."
I asked him to elaborate.
“If a person fails to succeed, he is considered a failure, although he was successful in setting a goal to succeed.
However, he is no better than a person who succeeds only in failing, for he has not succeeded in setting successful goals.
“So, failing to succeed succeeds only in failing successfully.”
I asked him if he actually had written a thesis on that. He said he had and continued.
“Suppose a person’s goal is failure and he fails to achieve it? Then, he is a failure, although he is successful because of it, which is better than if he had succeeded in failing.
“However, someone who succeeds in succeeding is successful only as long as he was not attempting to succeed in failing, in which case he is a failure only to the point of not succeeding.”
I failed to see the point of the thesis.
“That's all right, as long as you intended to not see the point,” he said. “Then, you have succeeded in failing, which proves both you and my thesis successful.
“As long as I succeed in failing to explain how successful your failure to succeed in understanding is, my success has not failed to elude me.
“If I had failed to succeed in explaining how you failed in succeeding to understand, such failure would not have failed to successfully elude me. Understand successfully?” he asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Ah, success,” he smiled.
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May you succeed in experiencing the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Love ya,
Paul