Of course, we like being productive and accomplishing whatever agenda we’ve set for the day. And we have the responsibility to remain faithful in the work we’ve been called to do. But sometimes we must challenge and redefine what it means to be successful.
Typically, we think of success as satisfactorily completing the work we set out to do. On a given day, this is simply completing our to-do list. And on a larger scale it might be having the career or building the business of our dreams.
To be sure, these are often worthy pursuits. We need something to organize and direct the course of our lives. And our usual definitions of success provide a meaningful vision to move toward.
At the same time, God invites us into larger definitions of success. God is love. And any day we get to magnify love is a good day regardless of how unproductive we might feel otherwise.
For instance, love might call us to take time off from work to spend the day with our kid, lose sleep on a late-night phone call with a friend, or sacrifice personal time to be there for our wife after a long day.
Whatever it looks like, part of us feels behind because we were unable to accomplish the things we wanted to do. And this might be factually true in some very real sense. All the same, it would be a mistake to consider these days a failure.
While we were unsuccessful in completing our personal work goals, we accomplished something far greater by bringing more life and love into the world.
To be sure, this is not to neglect the work God has given us to do. And there’s wisdom in remembering every good deed is not ours to do. But our limited definitions of success should not hinder our practice of love, or leave us feeling unproductive when we’re called away from our usual work. Sometimes our true work is simply at a higher order of love.
In the end, remain faithful in accomplishing your agenda for each day. And remember a successful day is defined by your practice of love much more than simply completing your personal to-do list.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
