Reading through It: how churches and leaders can get it and keep it by Craig Groeschel. I love his thoughts on failure: “Don’t internalize failure: failure is an event, not a person.”
Failures are the building blocks for success; all success is preceded by failure. Yet, it’s so easy to internalize failure and conclude that I’m a failure. Untrue. Failure doesn’t define me as a person. Only Jesus can do that. Failure is an event, it’s a moment in time, it has a beginning and an end.
The point is too many leaders are playing it safe because they’re afraid to fail. They internalize failure to the point where it becomes their identity. In an effort to change their identity they often will avoid making mistakes.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean we do things without wisdom and discernment. It does mean that failure is always part of the equation of life, and to try and eliminate failure today short circuits the successes of tomorrow.
To paraphrase Mark Batterson: “The riskiest thing we can do in life is to play it safe.”
