LightGrams
January 29, 2026
Volume 30, Number 5
Most museums are of great interest to some, but not to others. A train museum captures my attention, but others glance at it with little interest. It’s all about finding common ground. Which is why a museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada stands out. Entitled, “Museum Of Personal Failure”, this temporary exhibit will appeal to all who are honest. We all have our failures.
Eyvan Collins had just seen a relationship end, and he felt as if he had failed. But then he decided to turn it into a positive by inviting others to share examples and exhibits of their failures. On the Wall Of Reject, one will find letters rejecting people who had applied for jobs. A handmade knife is on display by a man who used the wrong technique, and now it’s impossible for the knife to be sharpened.
One woman put her wedding dress in a moving box for display. Entitled “Threads of Innocence”, she wore the dress in full expectation of a life of bliss. Now that the marriage has ended in divorce, “It’s time to move on,” and thus the significance of the moving box.
What exhibits would you or I submit to this museum? We’ve all experienced failure at times. A museum is a place of remembrance. Through the decades, these displays will show to all whatever that museum honors. But should our failures be on permanent display?
God proposes something different with our shortcomings: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11,12). Micah 7:19 affirms that this is the how God wishes to deal with our failures: “He will again have mercy on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
Why would God offer such banishment of our failures? Because He knows we can grow; we can “move on” from our past and climb to greater heights. He urges us to adopt such a view.
Paul had significant failures in his life when he rejected Christ and persecuted the disciples. Later, he reflected on the current state of things (by God’s mercy): “… one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13,14).
Too often, we let the past define us. “I failed in the past; I will always be a failure.” That’s not true for those who follow Christ, just as 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
I don’t have any submissions for the Museum of Personal Failure. They’ve been cast into the depths of the sea by my loving Savior!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2026, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “Tim@GraceMine.org” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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