The good things about life are the successes and the challenges. Nope, I didn't say failures. That's because I'm not sure anymore that there is a such thing as a true failure. Yes, we may not achieve something that WE wanted or we may not attain OUR desired outcome, but we can often misinterpret results.

Say you work extremely hard, abandon your social life and become a recluse for a season -- only to invent a particular product you received inspiration to produce. During the very challenging journey to release and produce this "thing" your mind and heart imagine what the end result will yield. They both tell you that the completion of this effort will be monumental. This "thing" is going to be a game changer. It will finally realign your fate, and take you to a place in life that you never imagined. It will bring allow your sacrifices and hard work to finally be recognized.

When you complete the product, your anticipation is at its height. Just at that moment - when it becomes public - there is a pure joy that rushes over you; right before the nervous tension and doubt take over. When those two move in, your mind starts to present questions about the nebulous "they." Will they like it? Will they purchase it? Will they even understand the value of it?

You work yourself up so badly, that you begin to visualize an imminent failure, so when sales don't immediately take off, failure takes up residence in your mind. Yes it sold, but only to one or two individuals. Very few engage you in an enlightening conversation about what made you produce the item. No one really asks what was going through your mind when you created the product, or how difficult was the journey toward completion. No one even thought to ask how you felt when you were creating it, which was really the main thing you had been waiting to share.

What a failure right?  

Not necessarily. You believed that this thing was going to be a game changer. You believed that the completion of this effort would prove monumental, that your fate would be realigned, and that you would be taken to a place in life that you never imagined. Finally, you wanted recognition for your work, right?

Now go back with me to the moment when you FIRST completed the work  When anticipation was at its height - when that moment of pure joy rushed over you. Yes, right there. Go back to that feeling of total joy about what you were able to accomplish. Revisit that feeling of achievement that you brought to fruition a simple thought that was nagging at your spirit for so long. The joy of working hard, when you didn't have to, in order to producing something that would help others. 



That was the moment of victory; of success, but you rushed passed it. That was the moment when all the things that your mind told you would result, indeed did. You squandered it though; moved right on past it to a place where you lost track of what the entire journey was about.

When we produce something two things happen. First, we respond to "something" within us that has taken hold of us and will not let us rest until we produce it. Something so big, so consuming that we can no longer ignore it. It moves past realization to acknowledgement that we are indeed led by an inner spiritual wisdom that CAN guide and direct us, If we yield.

The second thing that happens is the ripple effect. First, reflection sneaks upon us and we start to realize how the journey has impacted, changed, and empowered us. Then, people we don't even know begin to be affected. It may be one, two, 10 or 10,000. We will never know for sure. They are the ones that may not buy the product, but saw your post about your journey to produce it, and became inspired and courageous enough to engage that thing that is sitting in their spirit. Then there are the ones who actually purchase the product. They express their excitement at receiving it. They are ones, usually just a few, who let you know that it is something that they have been needing or wanting forever. They may only buy one or two, but purpose oozes out of their purchases.  Finally there are those that purchase the product, but do not speak with you. You see them in the work that goes on publicly, and you notice that it is your product that helped them to complete that task.

So you see, failure only comes when we do not perform a duty or expected action. Every time that we choose to follow the wisdom and gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit within us and do something that is seemingly beyond our comfort and capacity, we succeed. Success abides each time that we are led by God to take a step into unknown, uncharted and sometimes hostile territory, and we do it anyhow.

In the end, we may not know exactly who has been helped or what purpose was served. It may have been something that was needed to be done by us and that only impacts us. Who knows?  What we do know is that the sweet spot, the moment of success happens in that brief period upon completion, when joy flows within us like a river, and we hear a soft whisper within our spirit that says, "Job, well done."