Happy Birthday

June 22, 2018

Observing a birthday by moving an industrial compressor out of a basement is not exactly what most people would consider a celebration. In many ways, it wasn’t a celebration for my son, whose birthday it is. The compressor powered the steam system in the dry cleaning business he bought last year. In spite of a lot of hard work and some fine people working for him, it wasn’t bringing in the business necessary to meet expenses. Instead, it was sucking up money from his successful enterprises, so he made the decision last month to shutter the business and liquidate whatever equipment he could. 

Some good friends showed up to help move the compressor, so it wasn’t as bad a job as I had feared, and at one point, I asked him what he was going to do with the neon sign in the window. “I’d actually like to forget about it,” was his reply. Looking around the building, it’s sad to see what was once a thriving enterprise a mere shell of what it once was. I’d never actually seen the nuts and bolts of such a business, and was impressed by all the equipment it took to operate even a small mom and pop business.

We stepped outside, Nate turned the key in the lock, and we walked the few steps to the truck. On the way home, we talked about the future. One thing I know: successful people are never successful all the time. I can point to a number of failures in my 40 plus years of ministry. Critics point out that our president failed at many of his business ventures, but he never let that stop him. Years ago, I listened to a successful pastor tell a gathering of clergy that if they weren’t failing on a regular basis, they weren’t trying hard enough. I grew up learning to play it safe, and have spent most of my pastoral life trying to undo that training. Along the way, I learned how important it is to fail.

Closing a business is hard work. It takes an emotional toll. Call it by any other name, it feels like a failure. But failure doesn’t make you a failure unless you take it to heart. Most success stories are the cumulative result of someone who repeatedly failed but refused to let failure define him.

Tonight we sat together as a family, watching his second daughter graduate from high school. She is, like his other daughters, beautiful inside and out, talented and poised, a young woman who makes us proud to be her grandparents. Nate will succeed in his businesses because he learns from both the successes and failures. And even if every business venture he tried ended in disaster, he is already a success as a husband, father, and son. I am justifiably proud of him and thankful for him. Happy birthday, Nate!