Over the last two weeks I have been working for my father-in-law to reseal the parking lot for his business in Peoria.  I have never done this type of work before, but being someone who enjoys working outside I thought I could give it a try.  As my brother-in-law says “humans do it, and I”m a human”, so I watched a Youtube video and worked with my Father-in-law to order all the necessary materials for the job. 

This type of job requires at least three steps: Prepping the lot, making sure all of the seal is evenly distributed across the surface, and finally repainting all of the lines for the parking spots.

So I started at the beginning, which is always a good place to start.  I began clearing off all the grass in the cracks and the grass that was overgrowing around the edges of the lot.  Then I had to use a broom to scrub the surface dirt, and finally use a blower to clear off all the dirt, rocks, and grass clippings.  Once the lot was prepped I began to use a small brush to put the seal around the edges of the lot, and then I could begin dumping and spreading one bucket at a time across the surface of the lot.

On day one I was able to spread fifteen buckets and cover one third of the parking lot.  I felt pretty proud of myself for how good the lot was beginning to look.  The next day I showed up and had to blow the lot off once more and by the end of the morning I had spread out thirteen buckets.  As soon as I finished the thirteenth bucket it began to sprinkle.  When I had checked the weather that morning the percentage of rain for the day was thirty percent over a three hour period in the afternoon.  I thought I could risk it, after all it was only thirty percent. 

Instead of just sprinkling that day…it poured.  Peoria received over seven inches of rain in less than an hour.  The rain was so strong that we could barely see the front of our car.  I thought my progress would survive because it seemed to be dry prior to the rain fall.  However the next day I was met with all of my progress washed away.  The rain had completely washed all of the seal away and left only the sand that is mixed in it for thickness. 

All of my day two progress was gone.  I bet all of my time and energy on thirty percent.  I failed.  For me and my personality this is a huge deal.  I struggle with failure.  I don’t like the feeling, the public disgrace that can come with it, and I don’t like the energy that is lost during a failure.

When failure happens I have two options:

1. I can sit in regret, get angry with myself, and shut down.  Which can potentially lead to more failure, anxiety, depression, and it can open myself up to certain temptations.

2. I can take a deep breath, accept that I can’t change what happened, learn from what caused the failure, and get it right next time.

In this instance I thankfully chose option two.  There was nothing I could do to change what happened.  In our failures how we respond is critical.  Not just for our physical health, but our emotional and spiritual health as well.   

So if you find yourself reeling from a recent failure I encourage you to take option two and give your failure to God.  Trust that He can help you learn from your mistakes and give you the wisdom to get it right the next time.

From failure to finish,
Ethan