The world laments fall as evil
Humanity calls fall a loss; dreads it
Like poison that pollutes streams
Of joy but to you it ought not be so.
Consider fall a friend.
It is not a shame to fall
Glory stalks the fall of the wise
To impart more grace
To redeem and restore.
Fall is not some jobless hustler
Seeking whom to trip and trap.
Every fall answers to a call.
Every fall comes with purpose;
The humble will understand
And use each to discover to recover.

Food For Thought: There have been times I was so fired up with great intentions and intense energy only to find myself on the ground. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, least of all myself. I didn’t mean to trip and fall. But I found me on the ground nonetheless and on that ground I learned: good intentions are not enough. There are visions and there are missions; God inspired, self-inspired, pity inspired, praise inspired, popularity and majority inspired, just name it. There is nothing wrong with self-inspired goodwill but there is everything wrong when we present it as God-inspired. Our goals should be clear and sincere from the beginning. When we are driven by desire to do good, we should own it and trust God to guide us. When God inspires us to do it, we should learn to let Him lead the way while we follow. When we get them mixed up,  things get muddled and create room for trips and falls. Much as we hate to fall, when we look to God from where we are fallen, we learn lessons missed and regain treasures lost, even much more. Everything that starts out good doesn’t always end well and every fall is not meant to be a loss: some are delivered to spare us from running headlong into destruction. May we learn from what costs us, enough to discover the purpose behind the price, enough to recover a worthy prize that compensates for the loss.

Scripture: Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. John 12: 24.

Prayer: Dear Lord, every time I stumble or fall, help me discover and maximize the purpose of each, amen.