Skip to main content

Success

In an effort to enlighten myself about what the heck I should do to not be considered a time-waster and unsuccessful person, I googled "list of successful people".

Options for who I can grow up to be like include:

-Oprah Winfrey.
-Walt Disney.
-RH Macy.
-Charles Darwin.
-Vincent Van Gogh.
-Bill Gates.
-Thomas Edison.
-Emily Dickinson.
-The Beatles.
-Babe Ruth.

I guess to be successful I need a platform, a small (or massive) fortune, business and tech smarts, "creativity" (if that's what you call cutting off your ear) and a killer batting average (at least, I think that's what Babe Ruth was famous for... or pitching arm? I dunno). Not that all those things are bad, but...

So I moved on to thinking of who would be considered successful in God's eyes. Google was absolutely no help with this so I did it myself:

-George Mueller.
-Mary Slessor.
-Gladys Aylward.
-Hudson Taylor.
-Nate Saint.
-Ina York.
-My mom.
-Many, many other people I'm blessed to know in real life.

When I think of what got these people where they are, I get foolish courage, irrational love, complete dependence, and simple joy. Not exactly the American ideal of Success.

I want to be labeled as successful- who doesn't?. Unfortunately, it's easier to measure myself by the American Dream yardstick that I'm surrounded by because the Christ Follower yardstick often gets shoved in the corner behind checkbook, gym equipment, technology, and work schedule.

But with eternal eyes, this is success:

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8


"His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’"
Matthew 25:21

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Remember & Expect

As I’ve been thinking about what I want my focus to be this next year, the two words that come to mind are remember and expect. Currently, I don’t have a great relationship with those words. When your whole life (ok that’s a LITTLE dramatic but sometimes it sure feels that way can I get an amen 😫) seems like it’s been one. thing. after. another, it’s easy to get to a place where you can only remember the hard and you start to expect that the rest of life will continue to suck. You become apathetic. Cynical. And a delightful ray of sunshine to be around 🙄. I was reading Deuteronomy 8, in which Moses reminds the Israelites what God did for them in the forty years since leaving Egypt- forty years that, from a human point of view, seemed like a pointless, dead-end waste of time. It was miserable. It made no sense. And yet, God was in the details: they did not lack anything they needed. Moses also reminded them to expect what God had promised them, even though at that moment they were sti...

More Funnies.

To continue the "laugh at Moriah" post from like 2011... I went to DC with my college roomie this last summer. We were taking the train in and coming back after dark, and I reasoned that taking my pocket knife (read: 4 inch blade) was a logical step. Museum security checkpoints, however didn't line up with my reasoning. I was told to "get rid of it" if I wanted to come in. So, for the next 4 museums we visited, we took a stroll through the bushes before and after to hide and retrieve my knife. At the end of the day, we headed home. With the knife. Take that, Smithsonian security. Every fall, our school does the TP Game (yeah, my school is awesome). First game of the season, and when we score the first basket, we incur a technical foul by throwing rolls of [clean] toilet paper on the court. Well, the students living off campus usually help themselves to a few rolls of school provided game TP for their houses. We lived off campus, but instead of walking out w...

My Wise Advice

As I'm approaching my quarter-century-versary, I've been thinking about what wisdom I have to offer to the young whippersnappers. I don't have much. But there are a few things I've learned (the hard way is most often my learning style...). Don't make the mistake of thinking someday you'll "arrive" in your faith and have it all together. Stay teachable to the best of your ability. If you feel too confident in what you know about God, the Bible,etc., take a step back and remember how awesomely huge God is. Don't be like the pharisees and assume because you're a generally good person that you've got it figured out. God will make sure something happens that reminds you of that, and it probably won't be a good time. Make life a great big learning experience. Any time you have the opportunity to watch someone do something or try a new thing, take it. Watch the piano tuner. Hold the flashlight for the plumber. Pump the brake pedal for th...