The Freedom of Falling Forward
“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.” – Psalm 37:24
We have a new German Shepherd. Fritz. (To accompany “Mitz(i)!)
After Axel’s battle with lymphoma, he popped up on my Facebook feed one of the rare times I scrolled, we met him at a dog park, and now he’s a part of our family.
He’s dopey.
And the absolute biggest clutz.
You think of German Shepherds as courageous, swift, agile animals.
Not this one. He literally falls down the steps.
And falls up them.
He’s trying to do too many things at one time (like hold Mitzi’s fur in his mouth as he chases her up or down said steps). Or once he tried to carry a giant branch up the steps and it got caught on the handrails.
Falling is part of life for him. And he never seems to mind. It’s too bad that we do because falling, failing is not a bad thing.
Failure. Just reading the word feels heavy, right?
It’s accompanied by shame and regret. Nothing any of us like to talk about openly.
We live in a world that celebrates success and hides failure behind carefully curated social media posts.
But what if we’ve got it all wrong?
What if falling isn’t something to be feared, but something to be embraced?
Brianna Wiest reminds us that “necessary breakdowns” are part of the growth process—that setbacks and struggles aren’t detours but part of the path itself. She writes, “You are not failing. You are in the middle of a necessary recalibration.” That sounds beautiful in theory, but when you’re in the thick of disappointment, it can feel more like floundering than recalibrating.
But here’s the thing: growth isn’t linear. It’s messy, winding, and often feels like falling. And that’s okay. Because falling forward means we are still in motion, still learning, still becoming.
Peter: The Poster Child for Falling Forward
If there was ever a biblical figure who embodied the idea of falling forward, it’s Peter. He was all heart, all impulse—the guy who jumped out of the boat to walk on water and sank, the one who swore unwavering loyalty to Jesus and then denied him three times in a matter of hours.
Talk about a necessary breakdown.
After Jesus’ arrest, Peter found himself in a courtyard, standing by a fire, surrounded by questions he wasn’t ready to answer. “You were with him, right?” someone asked. And just like that, the brave disciple who once declared Jesus as the Messiah denied even knowing him. Not once, but three times.
In that moment, Peter wasn’t falling forward; he was free-falling into the pit of shame, regret, and self-doubt. And yet, it was precisely that fall that paved the way for his greatest transformation.
The Gift of Necessary Breakdowns
Wiest writes, “The parts of you that are breaking down are the parts that are no longer strong enough to hold the weight of who you’re becoming.” In other words, failure isn’t a reflection of who you are; it’s an invitation to grow into who you are meant to be.
Peter’s breakdown led to a breakthrough. When Jesus restored him by the sea, asking three times, “Do you love me?”, it wasn’t to shame him but to rebuild him.
Each question peeled back a layer of failure and replaced it with grace.
It was in that moment Peter realized that failure didn’t disqualify him; it prepared him.
How often do we get caught up in the idea that failure means we aren’t cut out for something? That if we mess up, it’s a sign we should stop trying? But Wiest reminds us that our lowest moments are often the catalysts for our most significant growth.
Embracing the Fall
Here’s the truth: falling forward isn’t graceful. It looks a lot like Fritz – stumbling through disappointment, making mistakes, and feeling like you’re getting it all wrong. But what if we approached our failures with curiosity instead of condemnation? What if we let them teach us instead of define us?
Here are a few things to consider when you feel like you’re falling:
- Failure isn’t the end; it’s an evolution. Each misstep reveals something new about you, your strengths, and where you need to grow.
- Setbacks often precede breakthroughs. Just like Peter, your lowest point might just be setting the stage for your greatest comeback.
- God’s grace is woven into every fall. Falling doesn’t remove you from God’s plan; it reminds you that you were never in control of it to begin with.
Falling Into Grace
Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “New life starts in the dark.” When we fall, when we break, when things don’t go as planned, it’s easy to believe we’ve reached the end. But the truth is, God’s grace often finds us in the very places we think are beyond repair.
Peter’s story didn’t end in the courtyard of denial; it continued on the shores of restoration, and eventually in the streets of Jerusalem where he preached with boldness. He learned to fall forward—to embrace his failure as part of his transformation.
What if we did the same? What if we stopped seeing failure as something to avoid and instead embraced it as part of our becoming?
Reflection Questions:
- Where in your life do you feel like you’ve fallen short?
- How can you reframe failure as an opportunity for growth?
- What “necessary breakdown” might God be using to lead you to a breakthrough?
- How has God’s grace met you in moments of falling?
Prayer:
God, thank you for catching me when I fall. Help me to see failure not as a stop sign, but as a stepping stone toward growth. Remind me that your grace meets me in the mess, and that I am never too far gone for you to restore me. Teach me to fall forward, trusting that each stumble is part of your greater plan for my life. Amen.
Action Steps:
- Reflect on a past failure and write down what you learned from it.
- Take one small step toward something you’ve been avoiding out of fear of failing.
- Remind yourself daily that growth isn’t perfect—it’s progress.
Closing Thought:
Falling forward means embracing the process, trusting that failure is not final, and knowing that grace always has the final word. So go ahead—stumble, fall, get back up. You’re not failing; you’re becoming.
I’m not sure Fritz will ever process what he needs to do to stop falling backward or forward. And he could care less. Every time he falls he pops back up, happy as can be. We can feel that way too.