There is something sweet about success.
Allow me to ground that in some context.
The most influential collection of writings in my life remains the Bible. The single most influential person in my life is still Jesus Christ.
Unsurprisingly I spend a fair bit of time reading the Bible and looking for Jesus in it and seeing how that can influence my life. What I particularly enjoy is seeing that influence throughout the rest of my life.
Take my interest in football. The game is about winning trophies. History is made by those teams that have developed a tendency over a period of time of accumulating a number of trophies. There are neat little stories of one off successes from unlikely teams, but the lasting memories for fans are regarding those teams that make the habit of winning. For the managers and players who have the privilege of being a part of those teams, they look back in fondness of what it was to get a taste for success and then to revisit that time and time again.
That got me thinking about the role success plays in life. It’s good to have a definition of success to work towards at various stages of life and in different ways. If you know what success is then when you achieve it there’s soemthing worth celebrating. It might not apply to others and they may not understand, but as long as it fits for you and you understand it, then it’s worth celebrating.
Indeed from the beginning there was always that element in terms of doing things and they would be considered either being done well or not acceptable. Take the example of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Later on Jesus would share a parable of a lord who would leave some things with three of his servants and then go off on a journey. On his return he’d check with his servants what they did with what he gave them. Of the three servants, one of them ended up getting cast out for wasting what he was given. For some reason whenever I hear that parable being relayed a lot of focus is given on that last one. I get it, to a degree. Yet I always think there’s something to be said about those first two servants.
They put in the effort, they delivered the goods and as a result they tasted the sweetness of success. That sweetness especially heard in those words, “Well done.” I mean hearing those words from the lord must be quite the sweet feeling.
We don’t necessarily live the kind of life that has trophies as obvious as in sports. We can still define success though and work towards it. Better still, we can work towards the standard of success set by the Lord – a standard that is based simply on obedience to what He says. We do that and make the most of what we are given and we get those moments in life where we hear those words, “Well done”.
To do that on a consistent basis, learning from our mistakes and supporting others to achieve likewise, that could end up with an end of life summary marked out in the eyes of the Creator as successful.
That would be sweet.
(Photo by David Gavi on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 