Success vs Failure

As a recent college graduate I have been submitting my resume via the internet and patiently awaiting responses for about 2 months now. The anticipation of a possible new job venture is both exhilarating and terrifying; a new job means more money, new responsibilities, and new co-workers. When you’ve worked at the same place for over 3 years, a new job is a little daunting. Despite my above mentioned fears another that I had not anticipated crept up on me this morning as I was checking my emails.

In not so many words, it was the fear of rejection!

I sat staring at my inbox that held an obvious response to one of my resume submissions I felt my heart rate begin to intensify rather quickly. You know the feeling you get when you begin anticipating the worst. Well the worst for me would be that my potential employer thought me unworthy of the job.

While I sat waiting to draw up enough courage to face my perceived rejection, I realized how ridiculous I was acting. So what if I did not suit that particular company, there are plenty of others out there with just as promising opportunities that I had not even applied for yet. Basically I was finding my worth in whether or not someone found me hirable.

Why?

One of the scariest things in my life is dealing with the thought of failure. Growing up you hear what great things you can accomplish but when it comes time to achieve these goals, what do you do if you can’t figure out how to define success in your life? Sure there are some of us who are meant to be great things out in the world but what if some of us are meant to do great things for the world? Too many times we get caught up in our dreams, our goals, our lives and we forget that this life is not about us.

After getting frustrated with myself I remembered reading this amazing commencement from this blog I read on Bounless' Web site that had challenged my thinking just yesterday...I'm a slow learner obviously. In the Boundless article the author said “God cares about the kind of person you will be even more than about what kind of things you will do.”

How quick we forget that the measure of a man (or woman) is his character rather than his bank account! So if the God who created the universe and every possible job that I could ever do cares less about the details of my day to day tasks and more about me as a representation of Him, why do I put so much emphasis on a job? We get so distracted by the world’s idea of success and forget how the bible measures success…to be a successful Christian you need only go and tell. The greatest commandment Christ ever gave was to go and tell others about Him

Whether we’re meant to be a teacher, lawyer, mom or whatever else we can imagine, as long as we are lifting high the name of Christ, “there will be something about your motherhood, teaching, preaching, lawmaking or machinery-making that transcends and glorifies motherhood, teaching, preaching, law-making or machinery-making, because it speaks undeniably of Him.”