Finding Yardsticks That Work The Best

On his 20th birthday in October, I gave our son Barrett a copy of the letter I had written him when he was just one year old. The challenges I set out for him at age one are unchanged 19 years later. I've excerpted portions of those "yardsticks for success" below, along with one final lesson that's now become painfully obvious.

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You are now a year old, and words can't describe the joy you have brought us. Your birth was an answer to years of prayer, and we know that you will grow to be God's man. Toward that end, let me summarize some of the most important lessons I've learned about successful living.

1. Give top priority to knowing God. Spend much time in the Bible--read if, study it, memorize it, and meditate upon it--and in prayer. Know Christ, and make Him known.

2. Use your time wisely. As it slips away, so does your life. Invest time in building relationships with others, and take time to write down what's important to you.

3. Give more attention to what you are rather than what you do. First be pure, and proper actions will follow.

4. Learn to endure hardships with joy, for they will come to an end, and you will have grown. Everything, even hardships, has a season.

5. Don't be deceived by the glamour of this world, whether it comes in the form of positions, possessions, or pleasures. Temptations and tribulations are a necessary part of life, but there is always a way of escape. Stand on the side of right, even if you must stand alone.

6. The important is seldom urgent, and the urgent is seldom important. Therefore, make your important decisions slowly; some can't be reversed.

7. Joy in life is found in the living, not in attaining some distant goal. Make plans, but leave room for God to change them.

8. Nothing is as simple as it looks, and problems are seldom as bad as they first appear. Don't be naive, fearful or easily shaken.

9. Give credit for what you are to God and others, and cultivate love and gratefulness toward them.

I hope these thoughts will challenge you in the years to come.

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We want the best for our children and naturally set such lofty goals for them. Thus to these "yardsticks for success" I'd like to add another: The yardsticks we use on others seem to work better when we first apply them to ourselves. Perhaps that's the reason I'm ashamed to find I haven't "measured up" as well as I had once hoped.

Copyright 2000 James McAlister

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