While walking through the woods high atop Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge I came to a spot where I decided to simply stop and find something to photograph; even though nothing was evident at the time.  I do this from time to time and frequently I end up sharing some of these with you because they somehow mean more to me.  I believe it is because I was forced to leave the “pretty places” and search for the beautiful side of ordinary objects.  Also, I tend to look at things from different angles than I normally would; it is amazing how changing your point of view and your perspective can alter how you perceive and appreciate common objects (and even people).

        In this picture you see two objects I found near my feet; plants that grew, matured and released their seeds and now lay dormant awaiting warmer days.  Initially I glanced at them and walked on in my search for something extraordinary to photograph.  Upon finding nothing remarkable or unusual I made my way back and performed a more extensive examination.  I took two photos and combined them into this picture that I share with you today.  More proof that allowing a second chance is always a good idea; no matter if it is dried flowers or people, we owe it to them and to ourselves to give the benefit of the doubt and take a closer look.

        If on your walk through life today you have found nothing beautiful, why not change your point of view and take a closer look at the people and things around you.  You might be surprised how interesting and charming they could become if we only looked at them differently.  The same thing could be said concerning the experiences we label failures.  Our plans end in ways we do not like, our hopes, ambitions and dreams fall in the dust at our feet and we call them failures; we call ourselves failures.  Why?  Because we did not get what we wanted; we are like spoiled children crying anytime daddy refuses to give us what we selfishly demand.  We ought to be ashamed at such behavior.

        The truth is that failure, setbacks, letdowns, disappointments, breakdowns and crashes are going to be a part of our lives until the time we enter the land of endless day.  Until then let us learn the importance of beginning again, starting over and choosing to rise again every time we fail.  Life lived to its fullest is nothing more than a series of new beginnings.  It is waking up each morning and realizing that yesterdays mistakes won’t irreparably damage our lives unless we allow them to.  Whether we stumble or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going ever onward in our course.  Remember, beginning again is a choice; you can start over again; success is just failure turned inside out.

Something to think about:

• Life is a series of accomplishments and failures that begin with learning to walk.

• The human soul, beaten down, overwhelmed, faced by complete failure and ruin, can still rise up against unbearable odds and triumph.

• Success comes to those who are neither afraid to fail nor discouraged by failures.

• Those who have failed miserably are often the first to see God’s formula for success.

• We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do, and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

• We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were successes.

• When you feel that all is lost, sometimes the greatest gain is ready to be yours.

• You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there.

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Rickey Moore