Unsuccessful

My poor daughter is on day 4 of a fever and cough. So far, I only have a headache...I think that is from worrying about her fever and cough. It could also be that my brain is growing and my little head can no longer contain it, but for now, I am sticking with a migraine diagnosis until I see a change in IQ.

I really am working hard to elude this scourge. In 5 days, our regional Science Olympiad contest takes place, which we have been working towards since August. I am hopeful she will not still be sick. I pump her full of orange juice and wash my hands a lot. Since we don't want to infect her teammate with this crud, I will be testing her two new helicopters in her stead today. With 6 months of hard work behind us, you would think we would have a really fantastic helicopter all ready to go. At this point, we don't. And we really are not sure why not. The kids have worked hard and built a good twenty helicopters this year but we seem to have stalled in performance. They just aren't great. But as my friend, the other team member's mom said, "It isn't from lack of trying."

There is just one instance of the word "unsuccessful" in the Bible. It occurs in one of the scarier chapters of the Holy Book, Deuteronomy 28. In these verses, God describes the punishment for those who disobey Him. It includes cheery events like madness, blindness, plagues, boils, rape, hunger, thirst, oppression, captivity, and poverty. This takes unsuccessful to a whole new and completely undesirable level.

The specific verse with the word "unsuccessful" in it sounded like my week:
"At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you." (Deuteronomy 28:29 NIV)

Sometimes lack of success is due to disobedience, shirking duty, laziness, or apathy. But not always. I don't think that is the case with our helicopters. But it is probably a good thing to rule out first, when everything seems to be piling up on the wrong side of the happiness ledger. Whether or not it is the cause of any woes I might be experiencing, there is always something I should or could be doing with a little more willing heart, cheerful spirit, or loving attitude. So being unsuccessful isn't necessarily a bad thing if it points me back to a path I may have veered from.

Still, I couldn't end my Bible study with that ominous chapter wrapping its poisonous tentacles around me. I did a word search on "success" in the Bible. There were too many verses to count. And in nearly every one, success was dependent on one thing- trusting and following God. Funny how asking God's guidance is sometimes the last ditch solution to my problems...but it is pretty clear that all success is dependent on that FIRST. That realization rearranges priorities in life. My focus has often been just to add more elbow grease. Maybe I am focusing on the wrong joint. Maybe what I really need is a little more Bended Knee.

1 Samuel 18:14
In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.


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