Mickey Rooney was a great American actor born in September of 1920. He grew up performing in vaudeville, and soon found himself on the stage, and later on the big screen. In a career lasting nine decades, he appeared in over 300 films, continuing to act until the last year of his life in 2014. He was best known for his long-running role as “Andy Hardy” in the famous series of seven movies. In 1944, he co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor in the film, National Velvet, and later, in 1979, in the The Black Stallion, with Kelly Reno, both of which are two of my treasured movies. To me, he will forever be that funny young man with two charming eyes, a dashing smile, and funny laugh.

We all have ideas and dreams of our future success. We envision what we hope to achieve and how we might get there. While we contemplate our dreams and hopes, we may try to decipher a trail that will lead us to where we want to go, A Wonderful Land of Success, if you will. We want to choose the easiest and fastest route to get there, a route that cannot fail us.

It would be lovely if this path actually existed. As it turns out, it doesn’t. In every journey to our great accomplishments, shortcoming will turn up somewhere along the road, because “we, as humans, are not perfect.” We can’t expect to live out our entire lives without failing at something. As we drive down that highway, with the wind whipping through our hair, sporting sunglasses and a hopeful smile, we are inevitably going to drive through “Failure-ville.” No matter which route we take, there will always be a Failure-ville. This certainly doesn’t sound very inspiring or motivational. It may even sound depressing. However, it’s not always healthy to sugar-coat the route to success. Way too many calories! Just kidding. . .

What I’m trying to say is, we can’t be afraid of failing. It can bog us down for a while, but it’s not like we are stuck living there forever. There will be a time when we can just fill up the tank, high-tail it out of there, and hit the highway toward our great accomplishments. We can leave Failure-ville in the dust and get back on the road again. We just have to keep driving, keep dreaming, and especially keep depending on God’s strength and love, because we’ll never have to drive through Failure-ville alone.

Psalms 73:26 – “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” KJV

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Have you ever driven through Failure-ville?

What did you do to get back on the road?

Which Mickey Rooney film is your favorite?

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Megan Joy