According to several good friends, and a study in the British newspaper The Guardian and me, the hardest part of recovering from divorce is dealing with the failure of your best intentions for your life with the person you were supposed to love more than anyone. I made a commitment. I intended to honor it, and for many and various reasons, I feel like I failed.
Yet, as I was talking with my very wise therapist about this difficult subject, he said, “What if there are some things we’re meant to fail at?” What if, sometimes, it is the very success we create for ourselves that is holding us back from being what God intends? What if we need to fail spectacularly at the thing we want to do, so that we can be open to the thing we’re supposed to do?
I think back to those things I consider the greatest disappointments of my life and see through hindsight that they have led me directly to a clearer sense of vocation, of God’s call. While I considered these moments to be failures, God was at work bringing me into closer relationship.
This message is excerpted from “Course corrections: the work of God in human failure” by Collette Broady Grund in the September 2022 Café online magazine. Today we commemorate John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 407.
Copyright © 2025 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected]. If you enjoy this resource, Donate Now.