Saturday Read: October 10 - The Courage to Start Again
Ten days into October. A third of the month is gone. If you started October with intentions, how are they holding? If you committed to daily prayer, have you prayed ten times? If you planned to read Scripture consistently, have you read ten days? If you determined to change patterns, are you ten days transformed or ten days into the same old patterns?
For many, October 10 brings discouragement. The month started with hope - new mercies, fresh start, this time will be different. Ten days later, the familiar pattern reasserts itself. You missed prayers, skipped Bible reading, fell back into habits you wanted to break. October 10 feels like September 40, just with different numbers on the calendar.
The temptation is quitting. If you've already failed ten days in, why keep trying? Why not just coast through the rest of October and try again in November? At least then you won't carry the weight of another failed attempt. This logic seems practical but is actually destructive.
Proverbs 24:16 says: "Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes." The distinction between righteous and wicked isn't falling versus not falling - both fall repeatedly. The difference is getting up. Righteous people fall seven times and rise eight times. Wicked people fall once and stay down.
You've fallen this month. Maybe multiple times. The question isn't whether you fell but whether you'll get up. October 10 is just day ten. Twenty-one days remain. What you do with those days matters more than what you failed to do in the first ten.
Peter learned this after denying Jesus three times. The night Jesus was arrested, Peter swore he didn't know him - not once but three times, each denial more vehement than the last. When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered Jesus' prediction and "went outside and wept bitterly" (Matthew 26:75). He'd failed spectacularly, publicly, and repeatedly.
After the resurrection, Jesus found Peter fishing. He didn't shame him, didn't bring up the denials directly, didn't demand explanation. Instead, he asked three times: "Do you love me?" After each affirmation, Jesus gave instruction: "Feed my lambs... Take care of my sheep... Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17). Three denials, three affirmations, three commissions. Jesus was restoring Peter by giving him opportunities to get up after falling.
Peter could have stayed in shame, rehearsing his failure forever. Instead, he accepted restoration and became the church's foundational leader. On Pentecost, fifty days after denying Jesus, Peter preached and 3,000 people believed (Acts 2:41). The man who couldn't admit knowing Jesus in front of a servant girl boldly proclaimed Christ before thousands. Falling didn't disqualify him. Staying down would have.
What's true for dramatic failures like Peter's denial is equally true for ordinary failures like your October struggles. You intended to pray daily and missed days. That's failure. You planned to change patterns and reverted to old habits. That's failure. You committed to spiritual disciplines and abandoned them. That's failure. But failure isn't final unless you quit.
Paul wrote: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal" (Philippians 3:13-14). Forgetting doesn't mean denying failure happened. It means refusing to let past failures determine future efforts. You fell the first ten days of October. That's behind. Press toward what's ahead - the remaining twenty-one days.
Rehabilitation programs teach that relapse is often part of recovery. Someone breaking addiction might stay clean for weeks, then relapse. The critical moment isn't the relapse itself but the response. Do they use the relapse as excuse to give up completely, or do they learn from it and continue pursuing recovery? Success isn't absence of failure but persistence despite failure.
Your October failures reveal patterns worth examining. Why did you miss prayer? Was the timing unrealistic? The approach ineffective? The motivation unclear? Why did you revert to old habits? Were triggers you didn't anticipate? Resources you didn't have? Weaknesses you underestimated? Failure provides information that success obscures. Use it.
Adjust for the remaining twenty-one days. If morning prayer wasn't working, try evening. If long reading sessions seemed overwhelming, try shorter ones. If willpower alone proved insufficient, add accountability. Don't just repeat the same approach expecting different results. Learn from failure and modify method.
Most importantly, remember that God's faithfulness doesn't depend on your consistency. You failed ten days. He didn't. You broke commitments. He didn't. You disappointed yourself. He didn't abandon you. Every morning of those failed ten days brought new mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every failed prayer attempt met patient grace. Every abandoned discipline found God still present.
October 10 is just day ten. Get up. Press on. Twenty-one days remain to practice faithfulness. You won't execute perfectly - you'll fall again. But you can get up again. That's what distinguishes the righteous from the wicked - not perfection, but persistence. Fall seven times, rise eight. That's enough.
