We often face difficult and painful—and sometimes even devastating—experiences. We encounter defeat, failure, loss, and death. Such experiences may seem to be punishment, and we can begin to feel vengeful toward someone or something we blame for causing these experiences. Even in scripture, people regress to vengeance in the face of defeat and failure.

Human life is finite. It has limits. These limits include not only the reality of death but also the reality of occasional failure and defeat. Each of us is finite, and no matter how enduring they seem, our culture, society, institutions, and government are finite. They will change, fail, and be defeated in ways we do not expect. Accepting our finitude opens us to a more gracious way of experiencing failure and defeat.

How does our faith enable us to deal with the realities of failure, defeat, and death? What was once a wonderful life is now desolate. At one time I experienced myself as capable, liked, and competent, but now I feel a failure and rejected. Maybe something has changed in my church, community, or nation that has led me to these feelings of failure and defeat.

In faith we can see these experiences as teaching moments that shock us back into realization of our imperfection as human beings in an immense cosmos. They are wake-up experiences! Our failings can remind us that we are God’s creatures.

Our imperfections are not evidence of total failure, defeat, or final death. Rather, they are doorways through which we enter spiritual transformation. Human imperfection invites us to let go of our ego and to live in faith in God’s ultimate love.