Significance or Success?

As you can probably imagine we are in the busiest part of our Be the Gift season. As we continue helping Single moms and her children with home repairs we meet the most incredible people that volunteer for our projects. Through our conversations I hear the same theme over and over, their desire to live a life of significance. It's great because the desire for significance is part of the image of God that He has planted in each of us. But sometimes I think we confuse being successful with significance.

In Luke 18 theologians say their young ruler was a Jewish man of wealth, position and committed to spiritual matters. This description would fit many Christians today, basically to sum it up in words...he was successful. In John 6 there is a young boy with two fish and five barley loaves (Canaan was the land of barley) in a large crowd where some theologians say the boy was probably trying to sell his food to that crowd...trying to be successful. There isn't a question about who was more successful, the bigger question is who became more significant?

Mike Myatt writes, "success is in the eye of the beholder, whereas significance is a view of you that is held by others. Complicating matters further, I believe few successful people actually make the transition to significance, but every person of significance is successful. While both require sacrifice, success comes at a great price and is often based upon the compromise of values. Significance on the other hand is driven by personal values and is a gift that cannot be purchased."

I'm thinking, it's not so much what kind of living we choose, but how we choose to live. In Luke 18 the rich young ruler was successful but turned out to be insignificant because of his choices and in John 6, the boy with not much to his name but his lunch, was probably not considered successful to most but became very significant in history facing the same choices. The truth is how we handle our money, our time and our influence in life determines the impact and significance we make in the world around us. Whether we have a six figure income or make minimum wage, work for a private business, the government or in a church it's the same for everyone. The great John Wesley puts it this way, "make all you can, save all you can and give away all you can." Everybody wins...especially you!

THANK YOU  goes out to two groups of people. First: We are grateful for each of our runners and their dedication to making this event such a success. We know the tenacity, discipline and hard work they put into this race. We appreciate their weeks and weeks of training and fundraising as well as donating their time from their work/businesses and families to run a relay from Ft Collins Co to Steamboat Springs for BTGt Team and helping single moms and their kids.

Second:  We are appreciative of those who prayed for safety and financially supported this fundraiser.  As you might imagine, it takes quite a bit of money to purchase supplies and materials to help the moms in the community as we do. The need these days is great and we know there are many "causes" worthy of your contribution. We are honored that you chose us and consider it a privilege to call you all

"Friends of Be the Gift"