"And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." (Gen 3:12-13, KJV) There is nothing attractive about failure. Granted, it is energy-sapping, disappointing, discouraging, embarrassing... which would explain why nobody wants to be associated with failure. Yet, this does not stop failures from occurring nor stop us from failing at one point or the other. If we stop being embarrassed by our failures and pay attention, we would realize that every failure is a lesson. Every failure is a blessing. When we fail doing something, we have realized one way in which that thing will not work. The right approach will be to try it a different way. But that takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of boldness. It requires owning your failure in the first place. If we try to excuse our failures, or blame them on someone else or some circumstance, we miss the opportunity to acquire the lesson and blessing they bring to us. Someone said that if you try and fail, try again. In other words, if you did something wrong or wrongly, accept your failure and do it right the next time. There is something revealing about failure. The moment you fail, it is as if your eyes are suddenly opened. Clarity sets in. That feeling of disappointment and regret that comes is usually meant to make us receptive to correction and be better equipped to succeed at the next attempt. But excusing our failures robs us of that power and that ability and that clarity. .
Adam and Eve were the first persons on earth. They were also the first people to fail in life. The story of their failure teaches us a lot, provides us with the tips with which we can avoid their mistake. The problem that Adam and Eve had was not that they failed, but each of them tried to excuse their failure. They each tried to blame the other for their failure. They tried to cover themselves (their mistakes) with leaves. They tried to hide from God. They simply were not willing to own their mistake. And that was their greatest undoing. Even worse than their sin and mistake was their attempt to cover it and disown it. If we must suceed in life, we must realize when we have gone wrong, accept it and move on. Don't excuse your failures. Don't blame anyone for your failures. Own them and correct them and move on.