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Can’t Win for Losing

Can’t Win for Losing

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Can't Win for LosingDo you know how it feels to lose over and over again?

No matter what you do or how hard you try, you fail. Success seems impossible. You simply can’t win for losing.

Don’t feel bad. Most of us have been there. Some of us have been there many times. A few of us think we have been there most of our lives.

Often we believe we are the only ones who fail.

But consider the following quotes from extremely successful people. They have been there too.

  • When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. —Mary Kay Ash
  • Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. —George S. Patton
  • I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. —Michael Jordan
  • It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. —Bill Gates
  • I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. —Thomas A. Edison
  • If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. —Zig Ziglar

When you feel like you can’t win for losing, don’t give up.

You are in good company. As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26 NIV).

Thanks to Becky Nash Rowe for the suggestion.

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Fair to Middling

Fair to Middling

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Fair to MiddlingI love Midway Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. Like the name suggests, it sits in the middle of the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins. However, it definitely is not fair to middling. It:

  • Steams, spews, and stinks
  • Changes constantly
  • Never disappoints its visitors.

Unlike Midway Geyser Basin, when we say we are fair to middling, we mean:

  • I’m not wonderful.
  • I’m not bad.
  • I’m in the middle of those two feelings.

Nothing horrible happens. Nothing great happens. We live, but little more.

Who wants to live like that?

Of course, we all have those days, but we hope they don’t last long.

We want to feel well. We want to wake each day ready to jump out of bed and go.

Often we get this fair to middling feeling because we fail to give life our all. We hold back because we fear failure. Yet, we all fail.

  • The greatest baseball players have more strikes than homeruns.
  • The greatest actors frequently forget their lines.
  • The greatest teachers occasionally have to say, “I don’t know.”

Let’s give life our best. Let’s not rob ourselves of opportunities and adventure. Living every day for all it is worth does not mean constant activity. It does mean squeezing every possible benefit from that day. That may mean staying busy as a bee. It may also mean taking a nice long rest.

Regardless of our circumstances, let’s move beyond fair to middling. Let’s choose to live a full life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

Special thanks to Judith Coopy for suggesting this expression.

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