A Successful Life

The other day a Christian friend of mine made an unsettling statement in an e-mail. She said, "As for today, I'm going to do everything around the house I can so I cannot be accused of being a failure of a wife."

I completely understand how she feels, and at the same time I find it unsettling because I don't know the definition of a successful wife. Really....

    What is a successful wife? What does she look like?

        What is a successful mother? What do her children look like?

It made me wonder whose definition of success or failure she was referring to? And who was doing the accusing?

That got me thinking about success and failure, and I determined that if I don't have a clear definition of what success means to me, it's likely I'll often feel like a failure.

I checked Google images to see what the world's definition of success was, and I found a lot of ladders, keys, arrows and arms raised in triumph. But right next to success, I also found failure.

So then I Googled "failure" and I saw lots of people, especially famous people, that someone, (maybe a graphic designer) decided was a failure. They took that person's image, created a poster and highlighted the word FAILURE underneath.

Nice huh?

I also saw images of broken ladders, wrong turn signs, Epic Failures (again more people) and kidneys.

This leads me back to my original question of who determines failure and success in anyone's life? Who has the right to?

I think the answer is... Only God

At the end of each day, I ask myself this question: "God, did I love you and love others well today?" If I can answer yes, then my day's been a success. If not, then what can I do to try again the next day? Ultimately, I think the Bible is clear on what failure really is. Here's a scripture that talks about our ultimate goal as followers of Christ:

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9

Failure = Hell. If you end up in Hell, then you'll truly experience Epic Failure.

Today I challenge you to redefine your definition of success according to our loving God's view of you. If you live in Jesus Christ, you will never be considered a failure.