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When God created humanity, God placed the earth in our care. Genesis 1:28 (NIV) records God's instructions, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Ruling over the earth requires continuing effort; it's not a one and done. Mow your grass and get it looking really nice, but in a week or two, you'll have to do the job again. Plant a garden and make it a showpiece, but get out your hoe and be prepared for the weeds. Houses have to be re-roofed or remodeled, potholes have to be repaired, crops have to be planted and harvested. Humanity's work is never finished.
The continuing nature of work suggests that God may be more interested in the process than in the outcome. Think about it: If God cared about the grass being mowed, then once it was mowed, it would stay that way. The fact that it doesn't, that it continues to grow and thus needs to be cut again and again suggests that God wants us to keep cutting! Humanity's dominion over the Creation must continually be exercised; it's not a "one and done."
Perhaps that's because God cares more about people than he cares about grass! Could the purpose of that continuing effort be to develop resilience in us, to teach us patience and commitment, to allow us to continually take pride in our work and to feel good about what is accomplished? And when we get something wrong, maybe the do-overs are God-granted opportunities for us to keep trying until we learn to get it right.
Thomas Edison understood that concept. When it took Edison more than 2000 attempts to develop a working light bulb, a young reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail that many times. Edison replied, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."
That puts a different spin on "failure," doesn't it? During those hard times and botched efforts, God is doing some of his greatest work in our hearts; He's shaping our character. God is using the processes of life to grow us and prepare us for eternity; we should cooperate with him. An unknown author wrote, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vison cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved... A winner is one who never quits!"
Often, a winner is one who refuses to heed the disparaging criticisms of others. Colossians 3:17 counsels, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him," and Colossians 3:23 adds, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters." If we are enjoying the process, learning and growing from our experiences and doing our best, does it really matter what other people think?
Those people could well be wrong anyway.
After Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he was asked to demonstrate the device for President Rutherford B. Hayes. After seeing the phone, Hayes commented, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"
Back in the 1940s, inventor Chester Carlson took his proposal for a new machine to 20 different corporations, asking them to invest in his work. Every big company turned him down. Finally, after 7 years of searching, Carlson persuaded the tiny Haloid Company of Rochester, NY, to produce his machine. You've probably never heard of Haloid, but you do know them by the name they adopted after Carlson's machine brought them national prominence: Xerox.
The moral of this story, of course, is that we needn't concern ourselves with what other people think. Instead, we should simply live for God and enjoy what He is doing through us, and in us. If we're living for God's glory, if we're growing in our knowledge and in our character, if we're better people today than we were yesterday, then we are successful even if the world fails to recognize that success; It doesn't matter what the world thinks. It only matters if the Judge of all the earth can one day say, "Well done, good and faithful servant...come and share your master's happiness."