One of the greatest bits of wisdom I have received from my psychologist is this advice: "You need to develop a new definition of success." Being one with particular limitations in a church culture which emphasizes excellence, I find it easy to feel like a failure. The following quotes are helpful to me. Perhaps you will find some solace in them, too.
"I believe that adults and children alike feel that a large part of who they are comes from what they do, particularly what they have produced or are producing, and what they aspire to achieve in the future. Casualties result when individuals have output failure and come to believe that their work is worthless and perhaps never will be worthy.
"Some individuals somehow, somewhere lose momentum; in the pursuit of accomplishment they fail to produce; they stall out. And often they face accusations of laziness. In truth, through no fault of their own, they suffer from hidden handicaps that disrupt and interrupt their output. They are not lazy; they have output failure."
Excerpt from The Myth of Laziness by Dr. Mel Levine
Simon & Schuster, 0-743-21367-X
Now consider the king of beasts. What makes up the successful life of a lion?"For today many a TV documentary will show you the beasts of the field not spending their days perpetually seeking out and consuming each other for lunch, as we have been taught, but in pleasant relaxation, play, family fun, bathing, exploring (for many of them have lively curiosity), grooming, sparring, and much happy napping, etc. Even the most efficient killers hunt only every few days when they are really hungry, kill only weaker members of the herds, thus strengthening the stock, and never take more than they need, usually sharing it with others. Between meals we see leopards, lions, and tigers calmly loping through herds of exotic ungulates, who hardly bother to look up from their grazing at the passing visitors. It is only the human predator who keeps a 24–hour lookout for victims in the manner prescribed in the flourishing contemporary success literature."
Work We Must, But the Lunch Is Free
And now, the words of a prophet, seer and revelator:
"What is success? Is it money? Is it achievement? Is it fame? Is it position? Is it dominion? The prophet Micah defined success as follows: 'He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' (Micah 6:8.)
"The prophet Ezekiel also gave a formula for success:
'But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, …
'And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; …
'Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.' (Ezek. 18:5, 7, 9.)
"The Lord appeared to the great Solomon in a dream and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” (1 Kgs. 3:5.) Solomon replied, 'Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.' (1 Kgs. 3:9.) The Lord was pleased because Solomon had not asked for success as the world defines it."
- 7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord aseeth not as bman seeth; for man looketh on the outward cappearance, but the dLord looketh on the eheart.
1 comments:
I absolutely agree. This is a great reminder to me that I need to also be careful as what I call a success. I deal with internal pressures all of the time, and a lot of the time I just tell myself that I have to let it go. I can only be me and do what I do to the best of my ability and that's good enough for anyone else and God.
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