In the Old Testament, Joseph became famous for being able to interpret dreams. I’m no Joseph. But I have had dreams. And last week I had three strange dreams. They were each different. Later, I realized they had a common theme. Failure. To be more specific, MY failure.

Failure to pick up some people in time. Failure to start an event because of distractions. Failure, failure, failure. I’m no Joseph, but I began to ponder the meaning, if any, of such dreams.

By the way, I’m not big into dreams as a way of guiding my life or for teaching me something on my spiritual journey. It might just have been a spicy enchilada that brought on that dream! But I also don’t want to miss something that could help me be the person, the leader, that the Lord wants me to be.

That led me to think of what constitutes success. All of us fail, mainly in things that are of little or no importance. We fail to call someone when we said we would. We miss something in a letter or email, and we don’t respond correctly…or at all. These are minor and highly correctable.

To think on the positive side, how do we succeed in the things that really matter? We usually believe that success is being able to accomplish things. And if we can’t do those things, we have failed. Henry Blackaby helps us adjust our thinking.

“Will God ever ask you to do something you are not able to do? The answer is yes—all the time! It must be that way, for God’s glory and kingdom. If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us, God gets the glory. He wants to reveal Himself to a watching world.”

It wasn’t long before my morning Bible reading took me to the book of Acts. In this passage Paul seems to be weighing the value of accomplishments and yet the uncertainty of what the future might bring. I think we all live with these kinds of thoughts. Then Paul brought it down to the essence of success versus failure with these words:

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Acts 20:24 NLT

All of us can fail. All of us will fail. But our Lord is ready to lift our heavy load and put us back on track to serving Him with all our heart. The Psalmist gives these encouraging words:

The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.

Psalm 145:14 NLT

Someone has said failure is not fatal. Better yet, God’s grace and His hand of mercy are everlasting. You don’t need to dream of success. You can achieve God’s success by your obedience to His way and His will…today.

God’s best,