This is to have succeeded....

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

My aunt and uncle gave me this amazing quote typed on a slip of paper for graduation. I read it, thought it nice, hung it on my wall and trotted off to college without paying it any mind. When I went home last weekend, though, I noticed it, slipped on the corner of one of my pictures, and I read it again. All of a sudden it hit me like I had never read it. What an incredible definition of success! I packed it in my suitcase to take back to school and it now is taped up on my bookshelf over my computer. Each day, as I sit doing homework, or rather on facebook lol, I see it and am reminded of what I am doing in this life.

Now ultimately, I believe we are made to glorify God in everything we do, whatever it is. One of my favorite verses, but one of the hardest to live by in my opinion is Colossians 3:23. "Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart, as for the Lord and not for men." Or something like that. However, does not Emerson's description of success include many things that God commands us to do? Especially the last part: "to leave the world a bit better..." We are called to better the world we live in that is so tainted with sin, primarily by being examples of holiness, set apart from the sin of the world.

The last part of this quote is my favorite, though. "To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived." Wow; that is my goal. What a beautiful picture of someone whose life has mattered. I have been struggling lately trying to decide what I want to major in, not to mention what career I plan to pursue. I've been trying to trust God to guide and lead my as he so frequently promises he will do. In my old testament history class, we are studying the remarkable lives of the Patriarchs, who, though they were as imperfect as you and I, believed God and trusted him to guide their every move. Of course they slipped and stumbled along the way, but overall, what an amazing example of faith! In Hebrews 11 this is all compiled together to show their incredible faith in God's plan. Genesis says that "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Wow, I hope I can have that kind of a faith-unswerving and steadfast.

Anyway, such a faith and trust is hard to develop. It's definitely hard for me, such a planner and worrier as I am, to not know what I'm going to be doing in a year, or ten or 25. But then I read this quote, which is why I have hung it up in front of me, and I remember. No matter what God sets before me to do or where he takes me, I will always strive to let at least one life breathe easier because I have lived. This is the message of Christian hospitality and generosity and kindness. To let one life breathe easier, with the hope that, instead of crediting that to you, they will credit it to the Lord, and see that his marvelous love is really the thing behind it all.