When I was a little child, I always looked forward to the International Children’s Day, for we would always hold a party to celebrate it. There were more than ten kindergartens in our town, and we all celebrated this special day together. I was really excited about watching the show with my classmates, but that is not what happened. Let me tell you my story.
One morning, our teacher walked into the classroom and with a smile, put her book on the desk, and told us that our class would prepare a dance routine for the party and encouraged all of us to participate in it. After a short silence, we chatted joyfully with each other about it. Even though some of my classmates volunteered to be in the show, she still needed more. Once the teacher made eye contact with me, I immediately bowed my head coyly to avoid her eyesight, though deep inside I really wanted to participate in the show. After knowing my thoughts, she said that she would help me to overcome my fears. What I needed to do was to take part and stick to it. And so, I accepted her challenge.
The dancing rehearsals were very hard for me, but I began to overcome the difficulties. Our team consisted of eight girls, and we often spent our lunch break and other available spare time practicing dancing, while the other children were outside playing games. In the early stages, I lacked rhythm, and I also had difficulty connecting one movement with another. In order to resolve the problems, I continued to practice every movement when I returned home after school, but my progress was still very slow. Losing confidence, I couldn’t help crying after one practice, which was noticed by my teacher. She walked over to me, took out a handkerchief, dried my tears, and encouraged me with some kind and encouraging words.
Later, we were about to go outside when it began to thunder. Instead of a sunny day, black clouds gathered in the sky, and soon it rained heavily. As a result, we stayed in the classroom, and she taught me all the movements again and corrected my erroneous movements with great patience. Soon, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and a beautiful rainbow appeared. I should remember that the sun always appears after the storm. I spent a lot of time practicing until I could finish the dance routine smoothly. As time went by, I not only overcome the difficulties that I encountered in practicing, but I also became confident that I could do it.
We had the party on June 1st, 1993. That day I got up early in the morning, put on my favorite skirt, tied a beautiful pigtail with mother’s help, and then went to kindergarten joyfully. After joining my dance team, we set off together to take part in the party. Reviewing the movements all the way, I hardly remembered seeing anything around me. When we arrived, a cosmetician put make-up on us, and we rehearsed our routine before we went on stage. However, once on stage, I began to feel very nervous and I knew that it would affect my efforts.
During one movement of the show, I rotated in the opposite direction as the rest of our dance team, and I knew that I had made a serious mistake. Without thinking more about it, I continued dancing until the show was over. It was then time for the judges to compile their results, and sadly, due to my mistake, our team only got third place in the competition. I felt so guilty about my mistake that I was reduced to tears. My teacher and my classmates all comforted me instead of blaming me. The teacher told me that although the result was important, if I had tried my best, I should not pay much attention to the result. I nodded in agreement and apologized to all of them. Today, I have forgotten which class won the competition, but my attitude toward success and tolerance toward others has influenced me to this day.
The dancing show was my first big show, and I learned a lot from it. Now I realize that once I decide to do something, I must persist to do my best to reach my goal. When I encounter difficulties, the best thing to do is to find the solution rather than to cry. What I learned from my practicing, as well as from the competition itself, is that the process is more important than the result. It is in the process of learning and staying persistent that I will find success in the future.
Additional Comments – It goes without saying that each one of us has experienced the pain of failure at one time or another. Whether in competitive events like my student participated in, or in making “stupid” decisions that affect us for a lifetime, we have all failed. The Bible provides a realistic assessment of ourselves — “We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That is, if we were to take a bow and shoot an arrow at God’s moral target, we would all miss the bull’s eye. In fact, most of the time, we would probably miss the entire target! Indeed, we have all failed to measure up to God’s character and His expectations for us.
One of the most amazing things about the Christian faith is knowing that God loves us in spite of our failures. There is no one you or I will ever meet who isn’t deeply loved by God, and that includes those “difficult” people in each of our lives. And fortunately, God makes a habit of not just “talking” about His love for us, but He always acts upon it. The Bible says that “God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us so that we could have the forgiveness of sins” (Romans. 5:8). And, His unending love is extended to each of us today.
Knowing that we have all failed at one time or another, and knowing that we have not seen the last of it, we should never use our hang-ups and failures as excuses to keep us from becoming the person God wants us to become. If you are a follower of Jesus, He has given you the Holy Spirit who gives you the power to get rid of those unhealthy habits that grieve your own spirit and bring dishonor to His name. Through His power, you and I can eliminate unwholesome talk, anger, bitterness, slander, revenge, and unforgiveness, to name just a few. And then on the flip-side, He will give us the desire and strength to add patience, tolerance, and self-control, and to give us a heart of compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. One of my favorite verses in the Bible wraps up all of these virtues by saying, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ has loved us by giving Himself as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1).
Take your failures and submit them to God, asking for His forgiveness. That’s why He died for you. And then humbly present yourself to Him as a “fragrant sacrifice” as you allow Him to jettison the trash in your life, and then fill you with Himself, becoming an “imitator of God” as one of His “beloved children.” So, you want to make a difference in the world? Then make it your heart’s desire to become an “imitator of God, walking in love just as He has loved us.”
