Thursday, April 26, 2018

Sweet Failures and Broken I-Love-Yous

This morning, I baked some cookies as a special treat for the seven first- and second-graders in the sign language class I've been leading this school year. They were sugar cookies in the "I love you" hand-shape. They were all looking so good, and I was making plenty so I was excited about getting to share them with others, too. Oh, they were going to be so good!

And then, they weren't.

The cookies stuck to the pans! I was cracking hands and breaking off fingers! Oh, I was so disappointed! These were not fit to be served to my students! The significance of the "I love you" hand-shape was gone!

This was a failure.

I tried really hard to keep a rein on my disappointment - to stay calm and not get teary about three dozen ruined cookies. My son kept telling me how beautiful and delicious they looked. (Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I know they don't look beautiful with fingers falling off.)


I started thinking, because I really wanted to find the positive in the situation. I wanted to see if there was a lesson that could be learned. That's when I started thinking about "sweet failures."

Sweet failures.

Good can come out of our failures. Starting with a basic view, even though many of the cookies were in crumbles, my children would enjoy them. Also, I could share them with some others who would appreciate them regardless of their appearance. Plus, the students weren't expecting me to bring a special treat, so they wouldn't be disappointed. Taking it up a notch, my children can learn how to handle disappointments (if I'm handling them appropriately). How we handle larger, more visible life disappointments (i.e., loss of a job or relationship) can show others outside our immediate family how disappointment can be handled, too.

Our failures can be sweet if we look for what God is doing and what He can do in them, through them, in spite of them. They can be sweet if we open ourselves up and allow Him to do His work. It's still not always easy, but there can be a sweetness as we find ourselves able to trust Him and hope for what's to come.

So what about this sweet failure? I checked the recipe again. No, it did not say to oil the baking sheets, but I decided to do so for the last dozen, and ten out of twelve turned out well. Thankfully, I have enough for my class tomorrow. Unfortunately, I faced more disappointments throughout the day and had an inner battle for contentment and peace. Sadly, this led to the broken I-Love-Yous.

Broken I-Love-Yous?

Yes. My inward focus and inability to shake the disappointment and sadness over today's circumstances had a negative impact on my ability to lovingly engage with my family. My sweet children said "I love you" so many times to me and gave caring hugs that just felt like they were getting in the way and slowing me down this evening. Their sweet smiles were a good attempt to cheer me, but my barrier was pretty strong tonight. I wanted to knock it down, but didn't. It was hard to return the hugs, smiles, and I-love-yous. They were broken. I felt broken. I felt like Paul, as recorded in the Bible book of Romans: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out" (Romans 8:15, 18b).

How many times do we give God broken I-love-yous, too? How often do we allow circumstances to break our relationship with Him? How many blessings has He tried to lavish upon us that we have snubbed?


Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland (Isaiah 43:18-19).

Here is a link to a song that came to mind: "Beautiful Things" by Gungor. God can make everything new, if we will allow Him.