Success

There are many definitions of success:

• It is the favorable outcome of an action.
• It is growth, development, improvement and getting better.
• It is achieving what you have set out to do.
  
• Passing your driving test.
• Getting the job you wanted.
• You feel it when someone you love tells you that he/she loves you too.
• It is the pleasant and powerful feeling of achievement.
• You experience it when you win or earn a large sum of money.
• When you see your garden blooming.
• After meditating for ten minutes, without thoughts disturbing you.
• When you fix a broken instrument with your own hands.
• It is promotion at work.
  
• Getting good grades at school.

The definitions of success are far and wide:

Success is to laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've got my faults, but living in the past isn't one of them. There's no future in it" Sparky Anderson - former manager, Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds

“Go out and make people feel good for no good reason” Richard Bandler

“Happiness is a perfume you choose to wear. And when you do wear it others enjoy it as much as you do” Peta

The man who is always killing time is really killing his own chances in life; while the man who is destined for success is the man who makes time live by making it useful. Arthur Brisbane

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. Henry Jackson Brown

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up. Babe Ruth

For the last 20 years I have never given up on one dream. That dream is to achieve a PhD. The largest obstacle to accomplishing that has always been doing language study. As I come to the end of the first full year of my PhD I have time tonight to reflect back on this past year. I have taken 3 quarters (30 weeks) of language study. I have received an A- for two of those quarters in Hebrew and have finished that requirement. As of 8:30 tonight, I have completed another quarter of language study, this time in Latin. While I am not hugely proficient in either language (though I am becoming much more comfortable in Latin, having translated the entire 5th chapter of Revelation as a class project) I have completed the requirement. As of tonight, I am finished with language study as part of my PhD requirements (I have a couple of classes to take in this overall area but neither requires the study of a foreign language). Tonight I took my Latin final. I spent many hours these last two weeks translating a passage from the Gospel of John, another from a poem written by Virgil and, yesterday, spending the day translating a medieval commentary on Galatians 3:10 (we received the passage at the end of class on Tuesday, so we had one day to work on it). Each of these made up 3 parts of the 4 part final. Tonight, we worked in groups translating an ancient Latin text comparing the plight of humans and animals. With the help of the group, we came up with a very high quality translation of the text. We handed it in confident that it would receive an A grade. My hope is that I will get an A in the class (actually, the professor indicated that is the grade I will receive).

Success has many definitions. For me, this is success. I have climbed a mountain, finished this part of the race, overcome my insecurities and fear, and established a new benchmark in my learning process. In addition to all this language study, I completed a 55 page term paper on Charles Finney and his influence on D.S. Warner, helped my wife get through her hip surgery, and taken on the interim pastorate of Church of the Foothills. All in all, that is the definition of a successful and productive summer. And on top of all of that, I am about to become a grandpa! Success!