Dear Friends,
I have shared with you in the past my propensity to listen to podcasts. A few days ago, while covered in drywall joint compound I listening to the Catalyst Podcast. I am not particularly good at applying joint compound, in fact I tend to get more on me than the walls, but that is topic for another day. I digress . . . the podcast was an interview with the musicians Matt Wertz and Dave Barnes. Each was asked what he was learning in life right now. Dave’s answer to the question caused me to put down the mud. Dave said that he has been thinking a lot about success lately and what it means to be successful. “The beauty of success is that we each get to define it our own way . . . The danger is when we start to believe and adopt other people’s definitions of success to become our own because then we are not living true to the calling in our set of circumstances . . .If we are not careful we can redefine something that I have already defined and am really happy with.”
There are a lot of things to ponder in these few words.
1. We get to define success ourselves; but have we? How many of us in have actually defined what it is that we are looking for and growing into. As someone once said, “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”
2. Do we really want to be successful at what we are doing? When we see people who are the top of what we are seeking to be successful at we rarely notice the scars they carry and they price they pay to be where they are at. Have we looked at their scars? Are we willing to pay that price?
3. If we have defined our success and are “really happy with” the place where we are at and the path we are on we must be vigilant to not allow others to redefine success for us and breed discontent into our souls.
4. Finally, if we have defined what it means for to be successful, but the path we are on will not take us there, why have we not changed? What is keeping us from changing? Have we set a date to make the change?
What about you? Have you defined what it means for you to be successful? Have you ever allowed someone else to define it for you? Share your thoughts below or on Facebook
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen