success Archives - Gina Brenna Butz

Redefining Success

Post author:Gina B
Post published:March 2, 2017
Post category:expectations identity

It’s no secret to people who know me that I like to be successful. I shy away from activities if I know I can’t do them well. And by well I mean better than anyone else (ugh-it sounds worse outside of my head). Average is Gina’s F.

The story of the talents from Matthew 25 comes to mind here. One servant receives five talents, another two, and another one. Those with five and two make the most of what they have, investing them wisely and doubling what they have. But the servant with one talent does nothing with it. He wastes what he has been given.

I’d like to think that I have five talents, nay, ten talents. Oh, what I could do with ten talents! But in some situations, I realize I might only have two. Maybe even just the one.

That shouldn’t make a difference, but it can to me. I allow what I think I have to influence how much I will put myself out there. I’m focused more on how using these talents will make me look than on being a good steward of them. Comparing my talents with the talents of others distracts me. I think more about what those talents can do for me, than what I am doing with them for Him.

Take writing, for example. The more I am exposed to successful writers, the easier it is for me to doubt that what I write is worth putting out there. Am I successful if I don’t have the same following as them? Am I good enough if my posts aren’t wildly popular? Should I even bother? I see the success of others, and it’s tempting to think that if I can’t do that, I should just give up.

I need to redefine success.

According to this story, success is not about how much you have, how much people recognize what you offer, or even what an impact you make. Success is being faithful and obedient with what he has given you, whether it’s a little or a lot.

So being successful as a writer is not about the number of likes and followers and retweets. It’s about listening to God’s voice and sharing whatever words He gives me because He asked me to share them.

Being successful as a parent is not about our kids’ achievements. It’s about believing that God has given us responsibility and resources to pour into our kids, claiming grace for what we lack, and leaving the results to God.

Being successful in our work isn’t about attaining more financial security or that corner office, but using the gifts He has given us to the best of our abilities in whatever space God has called us to work.

And being successful in life isn’t about creating the perfect amazing outward life, but about walking the long and dusty road with Him day in and day out, taking each next step as He leads regardless of who sees it.

In all these activities, our responsibility begins and ends with faithfulness and obedience. What He does with what we offer is up to Him. Whether He brings great fruit and influence and world change, or whether it falls on deaf ears and closed eyes, we have been successful if we show up.

So how have you been looking for success in your life? And what would it look like to simply be faithful and obedient today?

We Are All Glorious Messes

When You Just Have to Do One Day at a Time

Call It Victory

Post author:Gina B
Post published:September 26, 2013
Post category:31 Days of Victory

I am injury prone when it comes to exercise. Last year I got tendinitis in my wrist from push ups. Before that, it was sore heels from running. (I was told I have not been blessed with enough fatty tissue in my heels to run properly. I suggested a transfer from elsewhere in my body, but apparently it doesn’t work that way). Prior to that it was bursitis in my left elbow from P90X. I couldn’t bend it for a week. Try going to the bathroom without bending one of your arms. Seriously, try it.

This time, it was a pulled muscle in my hip from running. God might be trying to tell me something like “Slow down” with all these injuries, but let’s ignore that obvious fact to get to the point of this post, which is what the doctor said to me today.

I was hoping and praying that this visit to an orthopedic surgeon wouldn’t require the weeks of OT warranted by the previous injury. The doctor did give me a cortisone shot, after assuring me that it wouldn’t make me cry and curse like last time (because hips have more cushioning than wrists). He told me I needed to rest it a week, and stretch it. As he got up to leave he asked, “Do you want to do a follow up visit, or should we just call this a victory?”

Call it a victory? That sounded like a great option, so I agreed, “Let’s call it a victory.”

It was a simple phrase, but it’s had me thinking since then. Do I call victories, even in the little things? Managing to get healthy meals on the table in the midst of a busy week? Victory. Writing that note to someone? Victory. Taking initiative to move forward on a project? Victory. Praying over something instead of fretting? Victory.

I think we’re so inclined to see what we’re not doing, what we could be doing, that we forget to see what we are doing, what is happening, and call it victory.

I never expected to walk away from today’s appointment feeling victorious, but I did, just because someone told me it was. I want to remember to recognize the victories and call them, to celebrate where things are going well. They’re all around us, really, we just need to see them.

Where are you experiencing victory today?