Success

Sparked by a discussion here at home last night, I feel a need to write--

First, an exercise--ask yourself, what is it that defines success? And I invite every reader to close this blog, consider the question, and perhaps even write your own definition/story/assessment before reading my thoughts on the subject... This is a dialogue I'm interested in!

Second, the context that gave rise to this inspiration to write... We too often get caught up in frustration about that which does not feel right in our lives--something incomplete, missing, unfulfilling... Human nature draws us to focus on what's wrong with our lives, and not on what's right. If we spend too much time in this train of thought, what we consistently perceive to be wrong with our lives can become overwhelming, embittering, destructive to our spirit, our soul, gnawing out an abyss in our guts that becomes harder and harder to combat. And if you spend time observing people like I often find myself doing, you can see how this mindset, to varying degrees, carves itself into lines on people's faces, dimming the light that can otherwise so naturally come from their eyes... This is a commonplace tragedy--this is not part of God's divine purpose for anyone.

So if you haven't already closed this blog to consider and compile your thoughts on what success means to YOU, my thoughts follow... If you wanted to, you can start a comment to this blog to put your thoughts together before reading further--I just wouldn't want my notions to influence what anyone else would initially think or want to say about success.

So here goes,...by no means a be-all/end-all perspective, but one I consistently and increasingly find most in tune with my life and focus, my paradigm,...my spirit.

We often think of success with regards to areas in our lives where we can continue to grow and to measure both the growth and its rate along some spectrum toward a pinnacle, an ultimate level of attainment or mastery within a particular area that allows us to have a feeling of 'having arrived.' Wealth, power, health, status,...these are things that all of us, to one degree or another, would hope for in our lives. And there is nothing inherently wrong in striving to achieve higher levels in any of these areas--they are, after all, common hallmarks of success.

I would offer, though, that if we strive toward higher goals in any of these areas, it is actually most helpful and most fulfilling to consider these hallmarks of success as blessings that we are given the opportunities to achieve. And thinking in terms of blessings--gifts given us to work with and expand upon--then hopefully, the natural extension is to also consider the responsibilities that come with these gifts. We are responsible, not only to take care of those blessings, but also to use these gifts with a sense of gratitude and a desire to give something back out of what we've been given. Ideally, we would consider ways we can use those gifts not only for our own benefit, but in response to the needs of our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, whose sense of blessing and improvement will only enhance our own sense of the same. This is what stewardship is really all about.

This is all good. And considered responsibly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with our desire and drive to build ourselves up within these areas that typically identify us as being successful.

One problem with this perspective, however, exists in our dependence upon staying on a relatively consistent upward path in any of those areas, where we understand minor setbacks as normative hurdles to leap over, but still see clearly enough that we are continuing upward toward that pinnacle we so desire to achieve. The fallacy of this perspective, though, is that life--not always as predictable as we might like it to be--will have its twists and turns that we may not always be able to navigate... The bottom can fall out on any of these areas identified--
--Health: things totally out of your control can happen to diminish or destroy your current state of health or your ability to attain the goals you may once have had;
--Wealth (monetary, to clarify): we can be one pink slip away from losing a stable source of income,...we may be one poor investment decision away from 'losing EVERYTHING' (or so it may seem);
--Power: exists on a bell curve (primarily)...there's a point beyond which we may realize we're 'over the hill' (or look ridiculous denying it)... The power and authority we may once have had cannot be sustained at the same levels, (although what we have achieved in this regard will hopefully allow us some dignitary status--elder statesman, emeritus, honorary, or as some source of wisdom and insight)
--Status: See 'Power/Wealth/Health'...status different, though, in that we're inherently gauging ourselves according to others' perceptions. One bad decision or even a tidbit on a rumor mill can be incredibly destructive to that sense of status.

This all sounds negative, pessimistic, but the point is that all of these 'hallmarks of success' can be fleeting, although if seen in terms of blessings and responsibilities, far less so. Dependence on ongoing increments in any of these areas is misguided faith. It's not that we shouldn't strive for success in these areas--we should; but what's most important is to maintain a sense of priorities. Even the most successful people in the worlds of health, wealth, power, and status may look back and regret that they didn't do things differently--perhaps learning how to read music, perhaps devoting more time to a charity,...perhaps spending more time with family,... Even the most successful people can have mid-life crises.

So, in faith, I submit to you that success has everything to do with how we deal with adversity. If life's twists and turns continue to barrage us, knocking us down again and again, and yet we keep on getting back up, even defiantly challenging, 'Is that all you've got? Bring it on!'--this, to me, is what success is all about!

This way, no matter how or when or where that bottom may fall out on us, we will never fully be devastated by what may hinder or prevent us from reaching success in other areas. In fact, our ability to successfully navigate through life's adversity lends itself toward a different kind of success in all of those areas mentioned earlier:
--our ability to rise above life's travails lends to our spiritual health;
--our ability to see what is truly valuable in this life lends to our spiritual wealth;
--our ability to know Who's actually in control lends to our spiritual power;
--our ability to trust the One in control lends to our spiritual status.

But even more than all of this, none of this 'success' is even about me--it's about the fact that, as we are open to it, God is continually in the process of creation, even within us and through us!

If we truly believe that the Kingdom of God--the Kingdom of Heaven--is at hand, we can become absorbed in the presence and peace of God--Emmanuel and Shalom--where our own individual success is not even the point. Left to my own devices, I will succumb to the notions of success that the world upholds; but in faith, ever-seeking and increasingly understanding that sense of Emmanuel and Shalom around me, within me, through me, I am more fully part of something indestructible, infallible, eternal,...

I know the Kingdom of God is at hand, and not in some eschatological, gloom-and-doomer sense. Rather, I see it in the creation that exists within me and all around me--creation that, in itself is a gift over which I have responsibility. If I can look into the eyes of someone who's experienced some level of devastation, some sense of unrealized aspirations, some emptiness in the pit of their stomachs, and help them to find a light that can still shine through them, then God is successful through me, and then my life, my existence, is that much more meaningful.


And this includes when I look into my own eyes in the mirror.


To God be all thanks and praise!

Shalom! Emmanuel!!!