What is Success? Secrets of Simplicity

Success. We all want it. We all seek it.

Success, for many is thought to be the golden ticket and the epitome of what we chase after, prepare for, choose, and desire. Climbing the ladder of success is how many define their life and legacy.

 

Life however, if we are honest, is a mixed bag of success and failure. Your marriage, friendships, career, dreams, goals; for most of us, we experience a mixed bag of  highs and lows, peaks and valleys- wins and losses.

Life is not a neat clean list of  success or failure and if we could step back ten steps, ten days or in some cases ten years from now, we may read the story of our life in a different light.

The columns instead may be drawn to portray the power of both our successes AND failures, not an either or. What to us now looks like an utter disaster, may be the complete opposite when weighed against the backdrop of 20/20 vision

Hubs and I have dreamed of owning our own business for years. We considered a bed and breakfast. I started a home based gift basket delivery service from my basement, I signed on (.. cough cough- got talked into ) being a distributer for  numerous home party endeavours; Christian books, toys, makeup, Tupperware, Pampered Chef and the list goes on.

Several years ago we invested in a struggling coffee shop which, looking back was likely destined for failure before we walked in the door. We had dreams of leaving our day jobs and selling lattes, connecting with people and leaving the stress of a “regular life ”  behind. Need I tell the end of that story?  Thousands of dollars later and a few bags of coffee to wish us on our way, we had exchanged our dream of entrepreneurship with the sinking sense of  failure and a broken dream. 

 

We wrestled with our role in the process, the prayers in which we had asked for guidance and wisdom (did we miss you God?) our tendency to jump in without counting the cost (perfect location, it can’t fail, we would be in partnership with another Christian..) and our failure to seek the counsel of others wiser than us before we handed over a large check, starry-eyed to partners we barely knew. 

 

In the natural we made a terrible mistake, lost money we could ill afford to invest and the word “failure” rolled around for a long time in the depth of our hearts. We did not want to talk about it and not many asked us about our broken dream. It died a slow silent death.

 

Years later, it still is not a happy subject for us, this shattered failure of ours on top of the ones which went before and those which still lurk at the edge of our life today. But, when I stop wrestling long enough and instead surrender to the presence of the one who knows my name, understands my dreams and put them all there in the first place, I can stop kicking and digging my heals in protest as I shout why, how and what next?

• What if we could see it as an open door which brings us into the life of someone who needs our encouragement ? 
• What if it was not just about us any longer? 
• What if we could see it not as raw failure but instead a  door which would never have opened if we had not struggled with the web of what the world sees as ruin?
• What if we chose to see our successes as seasoned with failure and our failures seasoned with success, instead of just a shallow pile of messiness?

 

If you are committed to live your days dancing with disappointment in yourself, circumstances and others, keep constantly asking yourself:

• Did that thing work out perfectly?
• Did it go exactly as planned?
• Who can I blame?
• Am I perfect yet?

If instead you are committed to living in the light of God’s redeeming grace ask yourself:

• Did I grow from that experience?
• Can I see God in the broken place of my dream?
• Did I give it my all?
• Am I better for it?
• What if the shattered pieces could be created into something beautiful?

 

Our decision to look for God in our brokenness has allowed us to see friendships birthed and relationships strengthened all while the business was disintegrating; maybe that is why we were there, so we could see God at work.

All experiences and relationships don’t have to be perfect in order to matter. It is enough they shape us into the people God is inviting us to become, and that’s a more life-giving definition of success than anything the world gives.

What is success to you?

How is it different from what you had imagined?

How has God used shattered pieces to create beauty in your life? 

 

I thank you my reader friend for locking arms with me on this journey of living a life that matters. Struggle happens daily and it is good we are here together. Leave your comment love and share with others any encouragement or challenge you may find here.

 

Blessings!

Nancy