“Fall seven times, stand up eight,” says a proverb I have
appreciated since I first heard it years ago. Sadly, I made the mistake of
sharing this saying with others. They must have wondered what kind of new math
I was touting. They insisted that if you fall seven times, you can stand only
the same number of times you fell. Shocked, I counted on my fingers; sure
enough, they were right. … Or so I thought. Recently I heard a sermon in which
the preacher explained the mathematics behind the adage. He pointed out that
the numbers may seem off, but that you must remember to start counting with
your initial position: “You start, standing.”
The point is this: When we fall, when we fail, when we
make a fool of ourselves by yielding to the flesh, with the Lord’s help we can
stand again—each and every time.
