The Super Eagles Head Coach rejected the notion that his team could not contend for the trophy despite not having reached the tournament final for 12 years. He refused to be dragged down by the failures of yesterday choosing instead to fix his gaze on the possibilities and worked towards attaining these. He demonstrated faith as described in Heb 11 (ESV) “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”
In addition, the Super Eagles show us another important lesson about how to treat failures. The team had for many years attempted to win the cup with a particular line-up of players who were considered successful with their clubs, but who had consistently under-achieved at the tournament. In preparing for this particular tournament, the Coach made an extremely unpopular decision to exclude a number of these players from his squad and built a team of mostly younger players with little or no experience of playing at the tournament.
We must understand that while our failures should not immobilise us, they provide very useful practical as to which paths will not lead to success. Thomas Edison informed the world that his numerous failures at developing the light bulb were simply lessons as to how they could not be made. Having paid attention to these “how-not-to” lessons he eventually learnt how-to and fulfilled his goal.
Lord, Help me to Learn all I need to Learn from my mistakes,While not being immobilised and dragged down by them.
