Wednesday Wonder

How do we measure success?

As I hit a milestone with my age this year, I have been pondering this question? We tend to get a little reflective when we reach certain milestones in our lives.

In the last six decades, have I done something that would make others think I am successful (no need to send me an email and reassure me I am, just keep reading)? Does it matter that others think me successful? Do I think I have been successful?

What does success look like? This has also been a topic of conversation as we are preparing for my Dad’s 90th birthday party. He has had what might be seen as a successful life, and we had to book a bigger venue than the backyard to hold the evidence of that when people will come to celebrate with him.

So, what is success? Perhaps we all have a different definition of this. What someone has in mind for their own success may not look like success to someone else.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Jesus was successful. By our standards is this true? Jesus had not amassed a great amount of wealth during his lifetime. He actually lived mostly off the generosity of others during his ministry. He was even laid in a borrowed tomb when he died. Would the world call that success? Well, we are still talking about him nearly 2000 years later. We still try to live by his teaching, to imitate his way of being. Sounds like success to me.

I am not trying to say that those who have accumulated wealth over the years are unsuccessful. Certainly, that is one type of success. We don’t all have the same type of success though.

Do we count only the money in the bank? Do we count the number of friends? Do we count the number of times a name shows up in a news story about good works? What makes us successful?

It would seem that Jesus would tell us that how we treat people, how we support others, how we are part of our community, would be the things to use as a scale. How have we lived God’s love? That is the ultimate measure of success for a faithful follower of Christ.

So, yes, I have been successful during the last six decades. I contributed to the communities of which I have been a part. I have raised a child to have good solid values. I am respected in my field. I have made friends (and influenced people?). I have tried to share the Christ-like life in all that I do. I have tried to be all I think God wants me to be; to live up to my God given potential.

Does that make me successful by society’s standards? Probably not. It does make me successful in ministry and life. We have all done things in life that make us successful, however that is defined.

What we really need is to feel that success. To accept that what we have done with our lives, what we have accomplished, or even what we have been trying to accomplish, has been successful.

Your success is yours. Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Their success will look different. How they feel that success will look different. Your success is just that, yours.

Some days, success is just getting out of bed. Some days, success is launching the company. Some days, success is ensuring that the writing gets done in a timely fashion.

Today, success is reminding all of you, whoever you are, whatever you do, you are a beloved child of God and you are successful at simply being you.