Celebrating Our Failures

by Jon

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest in me. – 2 Corinthians 12:10

As part of my Urban Agricultural diploma course, one of our course requirements was a practical experiment in hydroponic agriculture. Previous batches of students were formed into groups and tasked to grow a set of plants through hydroponics in our school’s laboratory. However this year, in view of COVID-19 that resulted in our lessons being fully off-campus, we were each given a hydroponic kit to grow plants in our own homes and to share our results within our groups.

I remember the excitement receiving the hydroponic set and in my mind, I was already envisioning healthy and giant lettuces. I started planting the seeds almost immediately after I received the kit, checking the nutrient content daily and faithfully documenting the growth progress of the plants.

I was in for a rude awakening when instead of growing lush green leaves, my seeds grew thin and spindly-looking stems which could barely support the few pale yellow and shrivelled leaves on them. As time went by, more of my lettuces started dying off and that was when I realised that growing healthy hydroponic plants was not as easy as it seemed.

As bad an experience as it already was, it was made worse was when my groupmates shared pictures of their own lettuce plants growing beautifully in their homes. They would provide daily updates and discussed how they would cook their lettuce after the experiment.

When I shared pictures of the pathetic state of my plants, they were kind to offer advice on how to save my plants. But in my heart, I felt envious when their lettuces were how I imagined mine would look like. I felt ashamed at my failure and how little I had to show.

This experience taught me not only about agriculture but also about how we deal with failures. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that he will boast in his weakness. He who considers even his respectable credentials as rubbish (Philippians 3:4-8) chooses to celebrate his failures because through them Christ is glorified.

This is an important lesson for us even as we embark on ministry in Singapore or overseas as there will often be more failures than successes. But it is during these times when we want to hide, when we feel that we have nothing to write home about, or when we question our own ability or calling that we should be reminded that it is on God’s grace that every work should be established.

When we fail, we are reminded that God is God and we are not. We are reminded that sometimes we must become less in order for Christ to become greater (John 3:30). Through our failures and when driven to the end of ourselves, we learn to rely on God’s provision and hand for every step.

So even as we look behind and see a trail of shrivelled and withering plants, we are assured that God still holds us in His hands and that His surpassing power will sustain His work till the very end.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7