Failing Widely
Reading
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Reflection
Jesus set the disciples on the right path when they were failing at their task. I have learned from many different kinds of mistakes. It doesn’t mean I won’t make mistakes again – it means I won’t make those particular mistakes again.
One of the things most often said is that failure presents an opportunity to learn and to do things differently. But it’s not that easy is it? Sometimes we fail to learn from our mistakes. We make the same ones again and again.
Learning from failure is different to turning failure into success. In learning from failure, you may simply be learning not to mess things up so badly, or in the same way, next time.
Learning from our failures may actually be about making life a little more tolerable, not incredibly successful. Perhaps we need to set the bar quite low when it comes to learning from failure?