Be thankful for failures

Thankful for failures?

   How can anyone ever be thankful when they fail? This concept seems to go against everything we have ever learned, stretching all the way back through the history of our lives, when we first attempted to walk but wound up on our behinds.
   When dealing with failure, we only have two choices. We can carry on with gratitude in our hearts and the realization that this missed opportunity in some way wasn’t right for us, or we can give in and be overcome with disappointment. Since nothing is to be gained from our feeling like a failure, it’s a safe assumption that we should continue to be grateful for our failures.
   Here is the funny thing about failure. I know that we have all heard “when one door closes, another door opens” but that isn’t very helpful without the evidence to back it up. The solution is simple. Find situations where a failure turned into a much greater opportunity.

   I will start with a personal example of a failure that just might have saved my life and the lives of my family.

   Not too long ago I was in a career that took all of my time, most of my off days, and an ever increasing portion of my sanity.  I never had time to mow my own lawn. After nearly twenty years working for the company, I got so disillusioned that I spoke my mind a little too vocally, and was terminated. It would be safe to call that a “failure” on my part.
   Having only one source of income, I was forced to mow my own lawn; not that I minded since I needed a new source of exercise. So here I am, going along, happy to be taking pride in my own lawn again, when I begin mowing close to one of the largest and oldest trees on my property. I noticed something about that tree that caused me to shut off my mower and turn a little pale. The tree was almost completely hollow. It was so hollowed out, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it was still standing. I also couldn’t possibly understand how my life had become so hectic that I had failed to notice this.  
  Every tree expert I consulted, and I consulted them all, stated that a strong gust of wind could easily send that giant tree crashing right down on the center of my house since it was leaning that way to begin with.
   After having the tree safely removed, I couldn’t help but ponder one thing. I would have probably continued to work in that career for many more years no matter how terrible it made me feel. When I was working in that situation, I barely had time to fix a leaky faucet, much less go out and enjoy the outdoors around my house. It would have been well within reason to assume that I would have neglected to inspect my property until the giant tree actually did fall.
   Now I resolve that every time I seem to fail at something, I begin at once to be thankful for that failure. Had the situation been the correct one for me, I would have succeeded.
   Do yourself a great service and go back in your own history and find examples of a situation that you considered failure working out for the better. I’m sure you will find a bunch. This way, whenever you read or hear "when one door closes, another opens" you will have something to associate that statement with.