Written by Alexandria Irwin
Have you ever come through a difficult circumstance you hope to never remember again? Maybe you were disappointed in the way you handled it and count it as a personal failure. Life often leaves us with regrets. But just as we can learn from the many accomplishments of our past, we can also learn from our failures.
One of the most famous battles in American history could also be considered a failure.
In December 1835, at the opening of the War for Texan Independence a detachment of Texan volunteers drove a Mexican force from San Antonio and occupied the Alamo. While some Texan leaders had discouraged remaining in San Antonio calling it “impossible to defend with the small body of troops available,” the rugged bunch of volunteers at the Alamo, numbering nearly 200, refused to retire from their exposed position. That force was commanded by Colonels James Bowie and William B. Travis and included the renowned frontiersman Davy Crockett.
On February 23, 1836, a Mexican army, estimated at 1,800 to 6,000 men and commanded by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, arrived from the south and immediately began a siege of the Alamo.
For 13 days the Alamo’s defenders held out, but on the morning of March 6, the Mexicans stormed through a breach in the outer wall of the courtyard and overwhelmed the Texan forces. Santa Anna ordered that no prisoners be taken, and virtually all the defenders were slain (only about 15 persons, mostly women and children, were spared).
Even though it was a massive defeat, the siege of the Alamo became for Texans a symbol of heroic resistance. “Remember the Alamo!” was used as a battle cry for future battles in both that war and the Mexican American War in 1846.
Let us use the failures of our past as opportunities for growth, and remember what we have learned.
When we look back on our lives, we’ll have nothing but monuments -not always representing success, but representing how we overcame with God’s help.
“Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
