Redefining Success

I am a do-er.

I love to check things off a list. I love to write lists for that matter.
I love to go to bed at night thinking about all that I accomplished.
I love looking back on the day and seeing the physical things I did. To actually see my progress.
That is how I would have defined a successful day.

Thanks to God and His mercy on me because boy did I have a few things to learn.

Since having Mazy, and I know you’ve heard me say this 1,000 times if not a million, I have learned more life-changing lessons. And one of those lessons being on how to define success.

I have, I mean I am learning, how to redefine success. Redefine it according to God’s view of success versus the world’s.

The other day, I was thinking about how I defined a good day as being able to take a shower, wash my hair, and shave my legs, all in the same shower. Feel free to laugh! I do now! But when Mazy was a newborn, the only way to keep her from crying was to hold her, which made showers difficult. Yes, she would cry through almost every shower, which made all 3 steps difficult to accomplish because I couldn’t take her being so upset. I learned quickly though that it was okay.

A successful day, to me at that point, was actually just taking a shower! Forget the hair and makeup (thank goodness for glasses). Braids and buns became a thing of beauty! Success was no longer defined by how straight I could get my hair but by how good of a bun I could pull together.

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s important to take care of yourself as a mom! I still find that valuable. God created us with a body we are to take care of. But does He really care if my hair is in a bun or straightened? Or if I didn’t wash my hair for 2 days?

No.

What God cares about is how deeply I love His child that He has given me the blessing of caring for. Caring and loving little Mazy Grace. Caring and loving my husband. Caring and loving those around me.

I still wear makeup. I now shower, wash my hair and shave my legs in the same shower. But I have learned to redefine what is success.

Success to me is knowing I loved Mazy the best I could that day. Putting a smile on her face. Squeezing her and telling her how much I love her. Telling her I could eat her for breakfast, lunch, and supper as I kiss her face, hands, and toes. Because I love that girl so much.

Her baby book sits unwritten in since the first month because I’d rather spend these times just loving her  Those times are too precious. That baby book will come, thanks to the memories I have in this blog. Our windows could be cleaner, but I am enjoying the little finger prints that are now filling them.

I used to see success as having a spotless house. As always being caught up with my scrapbooks. As having every part of my house organized and uncluttered. It was just the season of life I was in.

But now success has been redefined and in a way redeemed in my life. And it’s only by God’s grace that He would be so patient with me to learn such a simple lesson that took me far too long to learn.

I still love to organize! I still love to have a clean house, but when I stand at the gates of heaven, I don’t think that’s going to be the first few questions God is going to talk to me about. Being a steward of what He has given us is important, but it’s not everything.

Instead, I just want to love well. Give well. And serve well.

That to me is success. So at the end of the day, if all I can say is I loved our little Mazy well today, well then, let that be a successful day.

And this post was written with our daughter sound asleep in my arms. Thank you, Lord, for teaching me to slow down. Only by His grace! These times, too precious to throw away with the world’s standard and definition of success.