The measure of success

How many times must we try, fall and rise again before we realize that trying, falling and rising is the measure of our success? Trying, falling and rising defines who we are, the stuff we're made of and in what we believe.

The culture of productivity tells us that failure is defined by what we do not achieve. Not so. Failure is not to try and try again when we believe that our interior reserve has run dry, that there seems to be no light at the end of a terribly long, proverbial pipeline. 

Human beings possess more strength in one tiny blood vessel than any expanse of the widest canyon, any depth of any cavernous pit, more momentous than the highest peak. We must learn to trust our own humanity. There is always more, always another chance to try after a fall, always the opportunity to rise again with renewed faith in God who fashioned us. We try, we fall and we rise. In between lies the good stuff. This is the measure of success. 

We are created in God's image. Should this not answer any self-doubt that breeds like green mold when we pour the moisture of self-pity on its dewey banks and allow it to overcome our gardens?