My friend left a comment on my blog the other day that said, “Thanks. You make my life easier.”” This compliment made me think of one of my favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have always been inspired by well-written words so I had this quote up on my wall in my college and then in my classroom.
This is how Emerson defines SUCCESS:
Notice this quote says nothing about the size of your boobs or your jeans, the label on your clothes, if you can run a marathon, what calling you have in church, how cute or clean your house is, what team your kid plays on, or how much money you make. It doesn’t even mention that you have to cook, dance, sing, sew, craft, write or paint to succeed. It doesn’t require you to be a president, a founder, an author, a presenter, an executive or an award winning anything.
So I guess it just depends on your definition of success. I choose to use Emerson’s definition because
I laughed hard last night at this video. In college I earned the respect of intelligent people as many professors tried to recruit me to join their fields, everything from economics to dentistry to higher education, but in the end I choose to teach 5th grade for 5 years and I earned the affection of children. You are my honest critics and I have endured the betrayal of a now-former husband (that counts doesn’t it?), I see beauty in the petals of a flower and in the stroke of a pen. I try to give the guy cutting me off in traffic the benefit of the doubt. I have 4 healthy children and a garden patch (even if it is only tomatoes.) I am still working on redeeming that social condition. Give me some time. And according to my friend, I have made her life easier.
By Emerson’s definition of success I have succeeded.
And I bet, if you are a deliberate mother, doing your best and working hard every day you have succeeded too.
![I spoke in church today and said the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest act of Charity. I read Moroni 7:45-47 to make my point. But wherever there was the word ‘Charity’ I substituted it out for ‘the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ See if these scripture verses now have new meaning for you:
“And the Atonement of Jesus Christ suffererth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth,
[The Atonement of Jesus Christ] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ye are nothing, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-
But the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”
So Easter really reminds us of love. The first and greatest commandment.](https://www.raisinglemons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
It’s a good thing success isnt measured by the size of my boobs because that would mean I have periods of success in my life and then the majority of life would be a complete failure.
Ash, I was going to say the same thing! This was a great post!