Fall Fearless and Fly - #3

Challenge #3:

Headline: Triumphs and defeats. What do you see as your greatest triumphs and defeats? What have they taught you? Which have you learned more from?
Colour: Black and white
Quote: Not in the clamour of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Hop on over to Artists in Blogland (see the Fall Fearless and Fly button in the bar) and see the fabulous challenge answers over there.

Wow! This one was a real toughie. As you can see, I couldn't stay completely black and white, but mixed a little cream in there, too, just to get some texture going. This is the second piece. The first one wasn't at all to my liking. From that 'defeat' I learned that I needed a little cream in there :)

So, I just about did the colour prompt, used the quote, but what about the headline? Well, this really made me think. I don't really see my life in terms of 'triumphs and defeats'. What usually happens is that I make plans and God laughs at them because He has something else in mind. And I have to admit that He knows best.

For example, I had my heart set on going to Durham University, but ended up in Sheffield instead. But that was where I met my husband (who also, by the way, wasn't planning to be in Sheffield). So was it a defeat? Absolutely not! It was just a different path. If I had wallowed, feeling defeated, I might have not gone to university at all and my life would have been very different.

Triumph and defeat, as Longfellow points out, aren't anything to do with how others see it. Sometimes what others see as success in our lives we feel very differently about. And vice versa.

Triumph and defeat come from whether the heart can see the light or not.