Daily Word of Grace #62 (June 10, 2020)

In the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi, Yoda reminds Luke Skywalker of something he already knew but had forgotten (something all of us know but tend to forget), “Failure is the greatest teacher”—or in Yoda-speak, “The greatest teacher failure is.”  I wish this were not true, I really do, but I can look back on my life and see again and again that many of the greatest lessons I have learned have been from my failures (and trust me, there have been plenty of those).  Many years ago when I was a candidate for ordination, the Commission on Ministry asked me a question I never anticipated (and the only question I remember their asking me), “What is one of the greatest failures in your life and how did you experience God’s grace in that?”  What an unnerving yet profound question, because when it comes to the actual grace of God connecting with our actual lives, Yoda is exactly right, “The greatest teacher failure is.”  This is because the greatest Teacher in the midst of our failures is the One whose death atones for all our failures, the One who continues to love us unconditionally in spite of and in the midst of our failures, the One whose “surpassing grace” is always more than enough (2 Corinthians 9:14).  It is through God’s grace experienced in our failures that we learn the true nature of God’s love and compassion, and are reminded of the opportunity God gives us to share that love and compassion with those around us.

Love and Prayers,

Dave