When we start to develop our spiritual nature, we will often find that new talents are awakened within us or that talents we had abandoned as impractical, or because we didn't believe in ourselves sufficiently, will reawaken and we will find ourselves becoming more creative in our endeavors. Some of us may have significant success with those creative talents and may see success in the form of fame and fortune (though most will not).

    When we have some success, it is human nature to want more of it. If, for example, we compose ten songs, and one of them becomes a big hit, it is tempting to study the successful one and try to make new songs that are similar enough that they too will be big hits. But as spiritual people, the goal for our creative endeavors is to inspire others, to awaken their spirits and souls and turn them toward the path of enlightenment. That is why the Master (God) gives us creative gifts. And sometimes, the items that have the greatest material success are not the ones that best achieve the Master's goal. It may be that another song that did not do nearly as well commercially, nonetheless was a bigger success in the goal of inspiring others.

    Here is a real example from my own experience. About three years ago, when my blog was still new and struggling to be noticed, I wrote an article that was read far more times than the average. I looked at that post and tried to figure out what had made it such a hit and how could I duplicate that success to make my blog, and myself by extension, more popular. Fortunately I did not loose sight of the spiritual goals of the blog or myself. So I found that what made the story so popular was not what I wanted. The post was a parable-type story about a dragon. I discovered that it was getting read a lot by kids interested in video games and thought, from the name of the article, that it might be revealing some video game secrets. These were not people seeking enlightenment, and would therefore not get it no matter what they read, so duplicating the success of that post might have made me popular, at least temporarily, with video game fans, but would have done nothing to achieve the goal of this blog. So I made no effort to duplicate that success.

    That is how we, as spiritual people, must look at all of our creative endeavors, except for those we do strictly to make a living such as an artist designing greeting cards. There is nothing wrong with having some success—it may help us get our message out—but we must do so without loosing our intent, and the intent of the Creator when he granting these creative gifts to us. Besides, misusing these gifts often results in having them taken away.

    Also, as Manly points out, God may decide at any time to change your mission, and you must not get so attached to it that you are unable to do so.