“God doesn’t require us to succeed; God only requires that you try.”
This is a quote by Mother Teresa. I often use her words as the basis for posts I write, for she expressed many truths during her earthly journey that I find to be helpful for my journey. I hope those who read my blog will find her words to be helpful for their journey too.
We all have heard that making mistakes is part of being human and that we can learn from our mistakes. It’s important to remember too that if we’re afraid that we might make mistakes, we can become stuck and not grow and change in positive ways.
We also frequently hear or read about other people’s accomplishments. But many times those accounts do not tell about what happened along the way—the stops and starts, the challenges that needed to be dealt with. Only by being willing to try and to continue to try despite difficulties were they able to accomplish what they did. They didn’t give up.
That is what we need to do when we are endeavoring to follow our inner direction, the direction given to us by our Creator and by the Self (to use Jungian terminology). We need to try and to keep on trying despite obstacles that get in our way. Obstacles come in many forms. Sometimes people we care about don’t understand our choices and try to talk us out of them or they distance themselves from us, which can be very hurtful. Another common challenge is our ego’s resistance to making changes, resistance that takes energy to overcome. And there are many distractions in our modern world that we need to make an effort to avoid.
It is by trying, by making efforts, that we affirm our intention to work toward doing what we believe we are supposed to do. As Mother Teresa said, it is by trying that we are doing what God requires.