The Law of Service

For quite some time, I have had a goal of publishing some of the children's stories that I have written about a dog named Wyatt. The themes of the stories all fit in nicely with my lessons at school but there is one big problem. The stories need illustrations and I can't draw. Not even a little bit. I have tried a lot of different possiblities, clip art, photos from my sister of her dog, photos of my dogs or stuffed animals. I've also tried asking lots of people to draw the illustrations for me: art teachers at work, other teachers, my sister, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, anyone who would respond on Facebook. Either they didn't feel like they could do it or they were too busy with other things or ...something. Every avenue I went down, no matter how promising in the beginning always ended up a dead end. I had just about given up. Finally, I decided to ask an art teacher whose job had been eliminated last year in the midst of all the budget cuts and downsizing. When I called, I did not have an expectation of success. She did however seem interested and we set up a time to meet a couple of days later. On the way to the meeting, I turned on an audio tape that I have been listening to of Brian Tracy's book, 101 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business. He talked about the Law of Service and how every successful business endeavor, has an aspect of service in it. He believes that it is not enough to want to make money to be successful, but that truly successful businesses have a mission to serve others as well. This is something I agee with wholeheartedly and I am eager to make sure that the service aspect is a key piece of any business that I create. Later at the meeting, I was told that not only was this individual interested in illustrating the books but that the call had come just at a time when she had been thinking that maybe there would be no more opportunities for her to pursue her artistic abilities and interests. It seemed to her as though God was telling her in so many words not to give up on her passion. Not only was she excited about this door opening but I was also equally excited about working with someone who was so enthusisastic and positive. I think that this was the piece that was missing in my search before. Not only did I need to find a person who could fulfill the task, but I also needed to find the person to whom this opportunity would serve to meet a greater need.