A few weeks ago – I set myself a task – a mission – and that was to plant quite a large number of spring bulbs in our garden – well – for me it was a large amount! This week I had the great satisfaction of seeing that mission accomplished.

I do so love it when I manage to achieve something that I have set out to do – and love the sentiment in this quote – “Begin your day with a plan – and end the day with the slogan – mission accomplished “

The first Springtime – after we had moved into this house – we realised that there was a great lack of Spring flowers – and so I made an effort and planted some – we had mixed success – but I was determined that this year I would make a bigger effort – and so spent time and money on the project.

The most time consuming of tasks was the planting of 300 daffodil bulbs in the grass verge outside our house – the ground was rather hard and so it required effort to dig out the number of holes necessary – yet – when finished – left me with a great sense of accomplishment – and anticipation for a lovely show of daffodils in the Spring.

Imagine my horror – when only a matter of days later – workmen appeared and began to dig a trench outside our house – in order to lay cables – on the verge where I had just planted all my bulbs!

However – I soon realised that it wouldn’t accomplish anything if I dwelt on the fact that all my hard work might be ruined – all I could do was hope that all was not lost.

Life can so often be like that – we can put lots of time and effort into projects – and even other people – and may have to watch – as it seems we have failed – but even though ” it’s hard to fail – it’s worse never to have tried to succeed”.

For me – to have a goal – even a small one – is important – to have something to aim for – a mission if you like – and – if I were to have a ‘life mission’ – it would be – “not merely to survive – but to thrive” – to be the best that I can be – to continue to learn – to grow – to reach out to others – to aim high.

It’s easy sometimes to be ‘defeated before I start’ – to ‘give in’ – to not even try my hand at something – be that a project or a connection with someone – simply because it may not work – or I may not be able to achieve what I want to achieve – but – I am learning – that I first of all have to believe in myself – for so often – if I believe I can – I will – to quote – “She believed she could – so she did”

So – I look forward to accomplishing my next ‘mission’- (however small) – by beginning each day with a plan – believing in myself – putting all I have into it -and recognising that it’s the trying that’s important – even when at times I fail. Blessings – Lois

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