Working your way to success

I learned a lot about success and failure from watching my dad farm. He made some huge miscalculations during his career. Like the time he bought a large piece of property out in the middle of wheat country and planted it to alfalfa. The neighbors sprayed herbicide for their wheat by plane, and the chemical drifted onto dad’s crops, stunting them severely and sending him almost into bankruptcy. Or the time we planted plum trees, spent tens of thousands of dollars nurturing them into bearing only to discover there was no market for the fruit. We had to rip out the orchards and start over.

Yet, for the big mistakes that were made, dad was a very successful farmer. He also made some very wise and good decisions along the way that far outweighed the errors.

In this human experience, mistakes happen. It’s part of our learning curve Spiritward. But we do not have to fear them, and we must not let them halt our efforts to improve, do better and try new ideas.

It’s said that Thomas Edison tried 10,000 times to make a light-bulb. When someone asked him how he felt about his many failures he replied, "I haven't failed. I've ruled out ways that don't work, that's all. Each try brings me closer to the one that will."

I like that. Ruling out ways that don’t work!

This doesn’t warrant careless behavior and reckless actions, but it does free thought to consider new possibilities and act on them without fearing the consequences. We can always change course as the way gets clearer.

God is an ever-present source of ideas, inspiration and guidance that keeps us heading in a progressive direction. As we listen, we hear, and the way may appear foggy at first, but as we march forward with an expectancy of good the path grows clearer, the fog lifts, and victory is ours.

“The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.”

~Mary Baker Eddy

In the big picture, we don't fail. We eliminate options that don’t work! And that gets us closer to success.