Today I got to thinking and decided to write something that sounded intelligent and well was a part of my thoughts.  I took the time to research and think out what I wanted to say.  To find verses and place them in my writings.  And below is what I came up with.  I have not written anything quite like this in my life and wanted to place it below.  Years ago I wrote every day.  Now I just write here and then.  Most of it on here.  So when I went to find a place to put these thoughts this was my forum.  I hope someone enjoys my ramblings about success and what it means to me.  :)

Success

Hmm…I was listening to a radio broadcast on the local Christian radio station today.  There was a man on there, whose name I don’t know, but he was giving a sermon on being successful and the meaning of success.  Well, I think that was the sermon.  I was in my own world, driving along and only half paying attention to what he was saying.  I heard him give the definition of success and I just let my mind go.  I thought to myself, what makes a successful parent?  What makes a successful marriage?  What makes a successful homeschool?  What makes a successful life?  Not in societies eyes per say, but in the Lords, and in our hearts. 

I do not remember the man on the radio’s definition of success, so I came home and looked it up in my American Heritage Dictionary, third edition.  This dictionary defined success as “1. The achievement of something attempted.  2.  The gaining of fame or prosperity.  3. one that succeeds.”  Okay I can agree for the most part with that definition.  The second part of that definition is what gets me thinking.  Is this type of success truly satisfying?  I don’t need fame to be successful as a wife, mother, teacher, or Gods servant.  Financial prosperity would be a nice benefit to life, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t need it to be successful as a wife, mother, or a homeschooling mom.  And I don’t have to have financial prosperity to serve God in his word.

So many of us in life go in search of money, of fame, of prosperity, but is that the true measure of success.  The bible tells us that “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction” Timothy 6:9(NIV).  How many people do you know have fallen into undesirable straights just trying to get to success, trying to get to financial prosperity?  I myself have fallen time and again.  My family has been fractured from time to time, all for the price of the dollar and finding success in it.  And at what cost?  We buy things, we want things, and we have to work harder to have those things, but in those things we do not find true success.  And the cost is always time spent away from family, away from the peacefulness of Gods words. 

Jesus told us “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matt. 6:19-21 (NIV)  How many times have we heard this scripture?  I know I have heard this many times, at bible studies, in sermons and even in teaching my children’s bible course at home.  And yet I know this scripture, I know what Jesus was saying and still I look at the beauty of many material things, and I want them.  As I am human, but more material things does not make me successful.

So I ask what does make me successful?

To me the meaning of success is to have a happy marriage, a marriage with love and respect.  The type of marriage in which the husband “…must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  Ephesians 5:33 (NIV)    Many times I have made mistakes in treating my husband with respect.  I can be caught arguing with him and holding things against him, well after the disagreement is finished.  But I strive to not do this and place upon my heart the words of Ephesians.  And to me success in marriage will be the day that my husband feels my respect and love for him and knows in his heart that his wife supports him in all his endeavors. 

 The meaning of success in parenting, in my opinion, is to raise our children up in Gods word, placing it upon their hearts.  To raise them to be joyful contributors to society, whom show the light of the Lord in their daily work.  The bible says “….bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  Ephesians 6:4.  Teach them the words of the bible.  Give them the peace and the security of knowing our Lord, a forgiving Lord whom loves and cares for them.  If I can give my children a love for the Lord that as adults flows from them for the world to see.  I shall than have found success as a parent.

Homeschooling success fall in much of the above.  To homeschool well, I need a successful marriage, it helps to give my children a sense of security.  I need to be a good parent teaching them the words of God.  And thirdly I need to teach them a sense of responsibility, to be hard working, intelligent people, people whom make a joyful contribution to society.

To me success is all of these things, but on a day to day basis how do I see it breaking down?  I see it in the young five year old son of mine, bringing me a first bible story book, asking me to read page after page.  I see it in my children smiling and laughing and playing together.  I see it in the look on my 9 year old sons face when he finally gets his multiplication problems right.  I see it in my 8 year old daughters eyes, as she reads to me successfully from one of her books.  And I see it in my husbands face and actions when he comes home to our house, the home we build together.  I can measure my daily successes on the happiness and peacefulness in the ones around me. 

Am I successful every day?  No, there are days when there is much to much noise, much to many distractions, and the home does not exude a peaceful existence.  Those are the days that I am greatful for the Lords grace for all my imperfections.  I am greatful that only one can be perfect and that is Jesus.  I can only try to be the best at all times that I can.

So to me success is much more than that little definition in the dictionary.  So much more.  Someday I hope that I can look back at my definition and the words typed here and say “yes I have seen success in my life”  Not the success of society, but the success of the Lords work in my life, my marriage, my parenting, my homeschooling.  Because that is the success that satisfies.  Satisfying success does not come in the form of prosperity or fame, but in the works of following the Lord and loving your family.