Success?

I have sugar snaps! All three of them were delicious!

I heard an actor speak once about the false gods Americans embrace – success, wealth and beauty. The importance of these is so interwoven into our culture that we hardly recognize it. Many of us weave these into our religion as well, somehow believing that living faithfully will make us successful, wealthy, and beautiful. But is this the example Jesus gave us? Without His resurrection, would any of us describe Jesus as successful, wealthy, or beautiful? Certainly not in the the world’s view.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? John 24:9-10

Of course, the tricky part of this is “success” because the definition is flexible. Was Jesus a success because many people came out to listen to Him? 10,000 likes on Facebook? Success used to be linked with wealth, but we could also link it with power or influence. In today’s culture, a company needs to be profitable, generous and socially conscious to be “successful,” although I think the profitable bit is still very key.

Was my sugar snap garden successful? I got three peas. Is that success? No, it is not. I have been round and round about what went wrong, what I could do better, and what I will try next year. Because even if I am not “successful,” I believe God wants me to give it my best effort.

Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord. Colossians 3:23

But for now, the spring garden is a bust. It is time to pull up the cages, take down the fence and let the mowers cut the weeds back. This year’s sugar snaps were a failure. If I were in a more unhealthy place, I might feel like I was a failure as well. There have certainly been times when my failure at a task has led me to feel like a failure as a person. But today, it just feels like another lesson from the garden. Perhaps being able to write about it has helped.

Perhaps I am redefining “success” and “failure.” Perhaps “success” has very little to do with production or profit or popularity. Perhaps it has nothing to do with wealth or beauty.

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Matthew 19:21

I am grateful for my three sugar snaps. I ate them with joy and thanksgiving. They were a gift from God. And they came, as they do every year, around Pentecost.

Pentecost, 50 days after Passover/Easter, marks the end of the Festival of Weeks and the celebration of First Fruits. One of the oldest Jewish festivals, Moses made it a mandatory celebration in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. By Jesus’s time, the Jewish people celebrated Pentecost as the day God gave His law to His people. It was as the people were celebrating the gift of the law that God gave the gift of His Spirit to His people.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4

And isn’t it always a “success” when God gives us a gift? When God gives us His law, so we know what pleases and angers Him? When God gives us His Spirit to make us new creations? When God gives me three delicious sugar snaps to enjoy?

Thank You, Lord. What wonderful fruit You have created. What a blessing You have given to me. Thank You.

Betsy

Thank you for reading along and joining me on this journey. Even if you don’t have a garden, God is growing something in your life. Trust Him and enjoy the fruit.

The earth is full of His majesty. Isaiah 6:3