"The older I get, I do not fear failure as much as I fear that I will be successful at things that really do not matter." -Dr. Brian Simmons
I was off campus today attending an ACSI Economic Summit in Lancaster, PA. During the final plenary session the president of ACSI, Dr. Simmons, spoke a truly refreshing word. He asked the question, "What will matter in 1,000 years?" He was driving the point that it is essential for Christians (and Christian Schools) to maintain an eternal perspective. He also asked and answered the question, "What are the only two things we have now that we will have in eternity?" ....do you know?....(1)the souls of humans and (2) God's truth. That's it. I'm thinking that we spend way too much energy and time on pursuits that do not impact these eternal things. One of his concluding statements that is worth refecting upon was: "The older I get, I do not fear failure as much as I fear that I will be successful at things that really do not matter." I'm thinking that he just might have a great point.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the invitation to your web log. I've read the whole thing in one setting to get me caught up... that's my temperment, I guess. But, it has a wonderful flow.
Thanks especially for this last post. I sort of hit a crisis point last weekend about that very thought you shared... and it hasn't been a quick recovery yet. In my head, it went, "I don't want to be wasting my time on things that don't really matter." And, my life feels filled with lots of things/duties that don't matter eternally. My life is also filled with lots of things that DO matter for God's Kingdom... but they get squeezed. It's pitiful. And, the reason it tends to boil up into a crisis (repeatedly through my life) is because my "abiding in Christ" gets squeezed off of my to do list. Just being real.