little successes

little accomplishments are like little medals. they make us feel like we're worth something. like we did something productive or useful with our time, our lives.

like this blog post for instant. when i hit that orange "Publish Post" button, i feel a tiny hand pat me on the back, my ego saying "way to go," or "that's right, dun. word is born." my ego switches back and forth between a 1950s Beaver Cleaver type of character and a 1990s rapper from QB.

blog posts are one of many things that make us feel good about ourselves. i started eating Greek yogurt, which has way more protein than Go-Gurt. is it as fun to eat as Go-Gurt? no, but i do feel better after i work out because i know that my biceps are that much closer to Arnold's (like Terminator Arnold, not former Governor/adulterer Arnold).

we do little things like this all the time. i chose diet instead of regular, i didn't eat that chicken tender that fell on the floor, i held open a door for somebody when they were kind of far behind me, i read a chapter of a book today, ok it was a graphic novel, but i took extra time to appreciate the artwork.

are these little successes bad? in a way. you're tooting your mini-horn a lot. and many toots equal a big toot, which leads to tooting your pants, and an awkward walk back to your house to clean up your tooting mess.

what's the point?

you're not really getting anything done. in the giant picture of things, you choosing to dwell on these small successes are making you complacent towards the race you're running. i'm a Christian, so i'm running towards the finish line to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." others are running towards success as an author, or as a chef, or as a good businessman, or a good parent, or student, etc.

we all have to keep our eyes on the goal. or else we'll forget why we're running in the first place and settle for cheap gold wrapped chocolate medals instead of the real thing. we don't want to be those people who decided to veer from the path because they saw a nice patch of grass and said, "this is good enough for me." we want to keep running until we see the finish and the reward that comes with it, whatever it may be.

little successes aren't always bad. maybe you read a chapter of a real book and it inspired to you to write your own story. maybe eating broccoli instead of cheese fries was a step forward in reaching your target weight, that's great. but let's not dwell on these things and see them as the real prize. let's see these little successes for what they really are. steps towards the real, true success that we are trying to reach. and in Christ, it's been accomplished, we just have to get there by His grace.