The Greatest Life of All

This is not an article the ambitious will want to read. It sets out to dispel the myth behind the world’s perspective of success. We put success through the mincer to see what it is truly worth. Then we contrast a figment for success with the only true success.

The greatest life of all is closer than any of us really believe. And the weird thing is we need to be constantly reminded; we more typically deplore our lives rather than appreciating the fact we have this one life.

The greatest life of all is lived within our minds and hearts, and in our skin; through what we perceive through our senses; through the fact we live on the cusp of time, as if riding the Golden Age.

We do what we can do. We learn what we can learn. We enjoy what we can enjoy. We enjoy life. We take every hurt, every shame, every barrier, and we conform them as testimonies of God’s power to change a life.

There is Only One Life

Why do we waste our time—to the extent of significant portions of our entire lives—trying to be ‘successful’? It seems hardwired into us; to want to be a success.

But even if we achieve success, however we define it, we need to understand that ‘that’ form of success is fickle. We may not even achieve it. And even if we do achieve it, such success chooses us with a great degree of partiality and dumps us just as seamlessly. One day we are the flavour of the month; six months later, or worse six years later, our world is sick of the flavour we bring. The truly successful in this world are those souls who are both imaginative and resilient; they continually reinvent themselves and never give up. But they are first themselves.

It is blessed to become the only person we can become: we, us, I.

What better success could there be than truly becoming oneself—discovering that person and living their way to the best of our ability? We do this and we achieve obedience in accord to God’s will.

Our strategy is to achieve the living of our life with no replication for replication’s sake of anyone else’s life; this is to be deployed daily. We need active reminders of how close success is. And success is always relative, in relation with our life stage and situation. Only we can determine if we are a success. And there is no point in not feeling a success, unless it propels us toward some positive change. The boundaries are endless on that pursuit.

It may not be healthy to say, “Stop the comparisons!”

We may not be able to stop comparing ourselves with other people. But we can admire them, determining precisely what it is about them we would like to adopt. It may usually help. Adopting these minute things can help hone our identities.

But ‘the package’ is unique. Our identities are central toward our success. We must honour our lives by living them as personally as possible; to be ‘us’ as much as we are able.

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The greatest life of all is closer than any of us really believe. The greatest life of all is ours. This life; our life; unto eternity... our lives—they are a gift from God.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.