last week i had a facebook discussion with a young, bright, hard working man living in Qatar about success. his definition of success and my definition of success were 180 degrees apart. perhaps it was because he is young, african, and looking toward the future and i am, well, sorta old, american and content to live in the present. he believes that success is when you set goals, work hard and achieve those goals.....! well, you know that makes perfect sense. i have looked in the dictionary, and it appears he is spot on. hmm, well, i said, he is bright. i have little doubt that he will be successful in the near future..in the music industry...and who knows, maybe he will take the nashville music scene by storm!
i think, as for me, i measure success on a smaller scale. because, any more, i don't have any large scale goals...no big plans for the future. sounds so so corny, but the future, for me, is now. as some of you may have seen on facebook yesterday, we made a 14 year old kenyan boy, residing in naguru, very happy by telling him we would provide transport back to nairobi next week. that in itself, to me, made for a very successful day because an amazing child was infectiously cheerful because he will be going home! maybe at some point success is not that you achieve your goals in the future but that you are delighted when you achieve something that wasn't planned or expected in the present. don't know, just know that mohammed is going home to his brothers. because he is an orphan. once again, i say thank you Jesus for allowing us to be a part of so many children's lives. and as living proof that our Lord has plans for us each and every moment of each and every day, i was already planning a trip to nairobi next week. how did i know i would be called there? i didn't...but isn't God awesome?
we have been working at naguru for some time now....the 'temporary' remand home for children awaiting trials...'temporary' another word that is open to interptretation!!! anyway, last week we brought thermoses (made in nashville) to the muslim children there. they had no way to keep the morning's porridge eatable until sunset...as many of you know, this is the time of Ramadan, where fasting is observed during daylight hours. yesterday a young man, maybe 15 of so, approaced us and thanked andrew and i for the gift of the thermoses. how thoughtful, how nice to be appreciated. then he went on to say that at every 'call to prayer', when he got on his knees, he thanked God for us and for all we had done for the children of naguru. wow....we looked at him and listened to him, and the thought came into my head that this was truly success.....to be appreciated by someone because what you had done, in some small way, had changed his life for the better. so maybe success isn't about setting goals and achieving them...it's about achieving a goal that you didn't intentionally set. i really can't think of a better goal than to bring a smile to a child or have a child pray for you. there can't be anything better on this temporary home. we, desana, never set out to do great things.....we have always hoped and prayed that rather than changing the world, we could improve or enrich the lives of a few children. when i think about yesterday at naguru, i know that i am successful...that desana is successful and that every day in which i receive a hug, a thank you or a smile is absolutely a perfect day in the plan that God set before me. i wish everyone success....i hope y'all reach your goals and i appreciate how you have helped me acheive mine.....blessings and hugs!
i think, as for me, i measure success on a smaller scale. because, any more, i don't have any large scale goals...no big plans for the future. sounds so so corny, but the future, for me, is now. as some of you may have seen on facebook yesterday, we made a 14 year old kenyan boy, residing in naguru, very happy by telling him we would provide transport back to nairobi next week. that in itself, to me, made for a very successful day because an amazing child was infectiously cheerful because he will be going home! maybe at some point success is not that you achieve your goals in the future but that you are delighted when you achieve something that wasn't planned or expected in the present. don't know, just know that mohammed is going home to his brothers. because he is an orphan. once again, i say thank you Jesus for allowing us to be a part of so many children's lives. and as living proof that our Lord has plans for us each and every moment of each and every day, i was already planning a trip to nairobi next week. how did i know i would be called there? i didn't...but isn't God awesome?
we have been working at naguru for some time now....the 'temporary' remand home for children awaiting trials...'temporary' another word that is open to interptretation!!! anyway, last week we brought thermoses (made in nashville) to the muslim children there. they had no way to keep the morning's porridge eatable until sunset...as many of you know, this is the time of Ramadan, where fasting is observed during daylight hours. yesterday a young man, maybe 15 of so, approaced us and thanked andrew and i for the gift of the thermoses. how thoughtful, how nice to be appreciated. then he went on to say that at every 'call to prayer', when he got on his knees, he thanked God for us and for all we had done for the children of naguru. wow....we looked at him and listened to him, and the thought came into my head that this was truly success.....to be appreciated by someone because what you had done, in some small way, had changed his life for the better. so maybe success isn't about setting goals and achieving them...it's about achieving a goal that you didn't intentionally set. i really can't think of a better goal than to bring a smile to a child or have a child pray for you. there can't be anything better on this temporary home. we, desana, never set out to do great things.....we have always hoped and prayed that rather than changing the world, we could improve or enrich the lives of a few children. when i think about yesterday at naguru, i know that i am successful...that desana is successful and that every day in which i receive a hug, a thank you or a smile is absolutely a perfect day in the plan that God set before me. i wish everyone success....i hope y'all reach your goals and i appreciate how you have helped me acheive mine.....blessings and hugs!
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