The definition of success and significance...

...The job of an internship with the International Board in a foreign county, France, is something very different from what most people think of as a "real job." I have come here with ideas of what a "real job" is...influenced by the Terry College of Business, my family, our American culture in general. It's a 9-5 job...that really requires more time than that...where you recieve a "salary" that seems to tell you that you have "done your job" adequately and bonuses that give you an extra pat on the back and scream SUCCESS!!! Wow...does that really define success and significance in the workplace????

My view has definitely changed.

It's time for me (and others as well) to look at success and significance with eyes looking beyond the short-term. My marketing classes in college always emphasized the importance of looking at customers with a long-term relationship in mind. This was one area of marketing I completely agree with. But are we looking at our "jobs" the same way? What impact am I having in the long-term category? I begin by looking at the relationships I am developing with co-workers...am I in it for the long haul? This is where the significance and success begin...but it goes beyond this.

I want eternal eyes...eternal vision. This sounds kind of weird, so I'll explain a little further. I want to look beyond this world and see what will be when I'm gone from this world. It will be what's eternal that matters. So...its not even just the relationships that I want to be long-term...I want the effects to be long-term. The effects of what I'm doing in my "real job." I want to take advantage of every opportunity to have a truly long-term impact...one that goes beyond our time right now. I want a true light...an eternal love...to shine and flow from me. One that comes from the eternal spirit in me...one that is from God. And I want this action to have lasting effects.

So...forget salaries, bonuses, clocking in and out...that's not a "real job" with significance and success. A "real job" with significance and success can only be defined as that after we see its long-term, eternal impacts and effects. It could take months, years, decades...who knows how long. So...I'll trust that God will look at my job and decide whether its "real" and truly having an impact for the better in this world. I'll trust that He will keep me in line and in check and give me His "bonuses" when I am "successful." In the mean time...I will try to see with eternal eyes all of the opportunities that lye before me...whether they are as an intern in Paris, a businesswoman in Georgia, or wherever else the Lord may want me to go.