I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

Someone once said, “I’m never down, I’m either up or getting up.”

That’s well said. It’s telling it like it could be. Like cream, this type of attitude will lift one to the top. Optimism helps us to be all that God intends for us to be. Success comes to those who have the will to keep on keeping on.

History reveals how people are successful, not because of aptitude but because of attitude. Persistence and desire are needed if one wants to be an achiever. Success isn’t an accident. It’s an ongoing process of growth and development. It’s achieving one thing and using that as a stepping stone to future accomplishments. For the true measure of success is not what position you’ve reached in life, but what challenges you’ve overcome as you’ve endeavoured to reach your goal.

Which reminds me of my daughter when she was learning to walk. Karen and I would sit on the floor across from each other and encourage Christie to take a few wobbly steps. When she successfully lunged from her mother to me we’d clap and cheer her effort. If she began to fall, we tried to catch her, and if she did fall we encouraged her to get back up and try again.

Life is very much like a baby learning to walk. There are moments of success and times of distress. Sometimes the going is smooth and sometimes it’s a stumbling effort where you have to repeatedly pick yourself up and give it another go. For, like a baby, as we walk along the path of life we’ll have occasional falls due to inexperience or overconfidence.

The difference between success and failure is how we react after the fall. Regardless of the reason for a setback, we need to learn that failure only comes when we allow the fall to keep us down and dictate the future course of our life, whereas success comes when we keep getting up and trying again. As someone said, “Success comes to those who have the character to continue when all seems lost.”

The life of the Apostle Paul provides an excellent example of a successful person. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Paul says, “I have . . . been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled and often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”

But despite all of this he got ahead. He didn’t stay down. He pressed on. He knew that failure didn’t come from the fall but from not getting up from the fall. As he says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

And in these words we have a recipe for success. For ultimately, a successful person is one who reaches up and lets God pick him up. Yes, you’ll never stay down if you look to God for the strength to try again.