Craig Clouston

Measuring Success

He shall not fail nor be discouraged.
Isaiah 42:4 (kjv)

The bar was set pretty high concerning what constituted a successful college basketball season in Indiana. This one hadn’t even approached the bar. The team finished with an overall record of 12 and 16 and a league record of 7 and 9. Many people in the community let them know how displeased they were. But they were a young team comprised of sophomores and freshman with only one junior. There was room for improvement.
As they hit the locker room after their final game, the lone junior spoke up. “I’m not going to tell you I’m completely satisfied with our season. But I’m also not going to let you leave this locker room for the final time without setting things straight.” He had their attention. “As far as our record goes, we lost more than we won. But in those losses we fought hard; we never gave up! Our performance should never be measured by wins alone. We had a lot of huge victories this year. Look at our defense. Because of tremendous improvement, we beat three ranked teams that were expected to hand us our heads!” He went on to list improvements each teammate had made; he put the season in proper perspective. “Don’t hang your heads in disappointment. Look people in the eye when you meet them on the street. Tell them what you learned from hard work!” He ended with, “Because of what we accomplished this year, I have hope for next season!”

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As toddlers, we don’t jump up off the floor and start running. It takes scraping our hands and knees for an extended period of time before we learn to walk. If we only measure success by the number of wins we amass, many of our greatest victories will go unnoticed.
The world’s take on what constitutes success is far removed from God’s. He judges our efforts, not a record that includes perceived failures. His word to us is, “Learn from each setback. Do not become discouraged. Strive to live your life always doing your best.” God, not the world, will judge our performance.

Prayer

“Help me measure success the way You do, Lord. Cause me to keep my head up and my eyes on You. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”