A First Time for Everything

You always pass failure on your way to success. ~Mickey Rooney

Life is filled with firsts. First days, first attempts, first drafts. And wherever firsts are found, failure lurks nearby.

Most of us don’t like the beginnings of things because competence makes us feel secure. We crave accomplishment, or at least the appearance of having arrived. But few of us get there with the first attempt.

My first poem, all fluffy, floating clouds and baby bluebirds childishly scrawled, embarrasses me now. No promising talent peers from its stilted lines. But other poems did follow.

My first inspirational talk claimed to cover the topic of Faith, in three obvious points and an amusing story. My research was limited to a dictionary definition; faith was at that point in my young life a vague, untried concept. The audience patiently applauded; they knew it could only get better.

My first weekend as a retreat speaker, I arrived with a Bible, five tentative outlines and I cried in my room after delivering each one. Who was I to be given such a weighty task? Which, no doubt, was God’s point of view as well, but he gave me the task anyway.

My first blog post is this one. I’m told I will have to write at least a hundred before my thoughts are worth reading. Someday I will look back with chagrin on this first one, but also with gratitude. There is always something good waiting on the other side of failure.

Only ninety-nine to go.

How about you? Is God nudging you to try something new? Do you have a “first” to share?