Have you ever come across a powerfully constructed learning propeller and wished you’d learned it years ago? I did the other day when I saw Sara Blakely, founder and CEO of Spanx, talk about childhood dinnertimes with her dad.

I was so excited I called my son-in-law to tell him about the video; and then showed it to my daughter the next day. We’re always excited to watch Faith Cora learn because she has a real knack for taking a concept and generalizing it to new areas. And lately her physical antics have brought such squeals of appreciation from Abram, that I expect he’ll soon be racing to follow her footsteps.

Ms. Blakely explained how her dad taught her to define failure as “not trying” instead of “the outcome of trying” by asking at the dinner table what she’d failed at that week. She said he was actually disappointed if she didn’t have a failure to report; but when she did, he celebrated it and anchored the joy of trying with congratulations and high-fives.

I absolutely love that he was able to separate her efforts from the results. What an amazing way to teach the joy of trying new things without the fear of failure.

Another thing he taught her was, that if things hadn’t turned out the way she wanted or perhaps she was embarrassed about a situation, write down the hidden gift that came in the experience; then identify what she got out of it. Ms. Blakely said she began to realize that every experience always had an amazing nugget she wouldn’t have wanted to pass up.

What a wonderful gift to give your children.

And we know

that God causes everything

to work together

for the good of those who love God

and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

http://www.businessinsider.com/sara-blakely-spanx-ceo-offers-advice-redefine-failure-retail-2016-7

I love my country, but I’ve never liked politics; and this is my first political season to be so attentive. But after taking in multitudinous debates, interviews, shows, and articles, I finally reached attitude overload and gave myself a timeout.

I’ve since waded back in and am again paying attention.

A few weeks ago someone posted a political news story and then, instead of addressing the issue, slammed the politician’s intelligence. It felt yucky and reminded me of one reason why I dislike politics. I’d much prefer to hear an honest opinion about the policy or character flaw than hear a cheap shot about the person.

Interesting how God’s word has answers to problems like these. He tells me I’m supposed to pray for those in authority; but if I lump the person, their policies and character issues all together, it creates a prayer problem for me. It’s hard to pray for someone if I can only see the things I don’t like— be that policies or character issues.

So I’m trying to maintain clear mental distinctions between the political issues, the politicians, and their character flaws. (And it helps considerably when I remind myself that I have character flaws too.)

He said it so I’m trying to do it:

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.

Ask God to help them;

intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

Pray this way for kings

and all who are in authority

so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives

marked by godliness and dignity.

This is good and pleases God our Savior,

1 Timothy 2:1-3

Amen.

(on-line photo)