Success
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series III, Cycle C
She didn't want to go to the reunion. It was her twentieth high school reunion and she just didn't feel as good as her classmates. She was married to an office worker who was very kind. They laughed often. Her children were ten and twelve and loved school, but they weren't on any teams or in any plays. But they did go camping and on "adventures" almost every weekend.
She didn't want to go to the reunion although she would know many people there. She had kept in close contact with several of her classmates. She loved her variety of friends almost as much as her thriving vegetable garden.
She didn't want to go to the reunion. What would she say? She was two sizes bigger than she was in high school. Her husband called her "perfect," reminding her a boney hug wasn't his type. Her hair had several gray strands in it. Would they notice?
She didn't want to go to the reunion, but she did. And there she found a room full of people bragging about their happy, ordinary lives. Only one had won a national award. Only one was a celebrity. Most of her classmates had graying hair and were a size or two larger also. She had a great time sharing stories that seemed ordinary but that made her life full. That was success!
What is success?
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
She didn't want to go to the reunion although she would know many people there. She had kept in close contact with several of her classmates. She loved her variety of friends almost as much as her thriving vegetable garden.
She didn't want to go to the reunion. What would she say? She was two sizes bigger than she was in high school. Her husband called her "perfect," reminding her a boney hug wasn't his type. Her hair had several gray strands in it. Would they notice?
She didn't want to go to the reunion, but she did. And there she found a room full of people bragging about their happy, ordinary lives. Only one had won a national award. Only one was a celebrity. Most of her classmates had graying hair and were a size or two larger also. She had a great time sharing stories that seemed ordinary but that made her life full. That was success!
What is success?
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
