What is Success?

 

Success is viewed many ways. Personally, I have two different views. One is the fleshy view and the other is the spiritual one. Within my fleshly view, I believe I did pretty well. I had a good career, moving upward with several promotions. I am not rich but live comfortably. However, my spiritual view of success is totally different and this is the view that counts. 

What is Success 

Success is not about gaining wealth

Or living in good health.

It’s not about a successful career, 

Partying with the elite with a beer,

Or dressed in the finely wherever you appear.

Success is not about gaining financial power,

Climbing the highest mountain tower, 

Or achieving your finest hour. 

Success is not about how much you own, 

Never being alone,

Never having to worry about paying off a loan,

Or never, in poverty, bemoan.

It’s not about gaining fame

And people recognizing your name. 

Success does not require grandeur. 

It can be had by both rich or poor,

By any color or race,

By the beautiful or ugly in face,

And in any place.

That’s God’s grace!

Success is being armed with the Word.

Daily, taking up God’s sword,

Following God’s commands,

And walking in righteous strength within His lands.

Success is recognizing God’s presence

And His Omnipresence.

When, the voice of God, you can heard, 

And know He is your Lord-

That’s success!

 

Mary Crisp Jameson 1/22/2026 

 

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7 NIV 

 

 

Between Two Bookends

When Solomon sought to find the meaning of life, he found that those without God were just chasing the wind. “All was meaningless.” No matter how rich, how powerful, or how much was achieved in life, there was no meaning to life if God was not a part of it. 

     God gives each person a choice of what they want to place between the book-ends of their life. Will it be meaningless or meaningful?

    

 

Between Two Book-Ends

 

Pressed between two book-ends

Is a chasing after the wind,

With deeds of which people have sinned.

Solomon found life under the sun meaningless

And, without Christ, pointless!

All was folly and unwise

Without God within the vision of the eyes.

Between two book-ends

Is a need for sharing Christ with friends,

Something more than seen under the sun;

A working for treasure that can’t be undone,

A giving rather than a taking,

And a Godly work within the making.

Between two book-ends

Can be found despair or prayer,

Certain death or living breath.

Between two book-ends

Can be found a life of delight 

If lived right.

 

Mary Crisp Jameson 1/21/2026 

 

“There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.” Ecclesiastes 1:11 

 

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113:3 NIV 

More on Time

I posted about Time yesterday and wanted to follow up with my fun little rhyme. 

Time

 

The clock is ticking-

There’s no time for nit-picking.

It’s here today but gone in a wink-

Faster than I can blink;

Seconds, minutes, hours, days,

A trail left behind, I blaze.

What I did in yesterday’s hours

Brought polluted or wholesome showers.

What I will get done tomorrow

May leave happy thoughts or sorrow.

The clock is ticking-

Away, life is chipping;

A time to do or undo,

A time for good deeds, many or few,

A time I have known, grown, or blown. 

Time is fleeting upon this earth 

With only moments to show my worth.

Tick-tock,

Tick-tock,

Goes the clock.

So, throughout my prime and gray-haired days,

In every time-graced phase,

Let me honor God with all of my praise

Until earth’s time shall cease to be no more

And I enter Heaven’s door.

 

Mary Crisp Jameson  1/20/2026 

 

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV

Time

Being retired, I often wake to think, "What will I do with my time today?" Then other days, I have so much I want to get done that I wonder, "Will l have time to do it all?" Time is here today, then gone, and back another day. It seems time is endless, but then time is gone before I know it. How does this make any sense? 

     There are a lot of quotes about time. Below are just a few. However, Ecclesiastes 3 provides the most valuable information. 

 

Time is money

Time is fleeting

Time heals all wounds 

Time waits for no man 

Time brings all things to pass

Time flies over us but leaves its shadow

 

     Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 KJV  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to plunk up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

  

     Ecclesiastes tells me all I need to know about time. What I ask myself is, “What is the time, and will I use it wisely?” 

More on time coming soon...

 

Seeking Guidance

 I have read this scripture hundred of times and am encouraged by God's promise. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you." Psalm 32:8 

     The  writer of the In Touch devotional used it today to provide a few steps to take when seeking God's will. I know these steps but often forget to use them daily in my life. Therefore, I am placing them here in my blog as a reminder. They are: 
1. Be sure I have repented of known sin
2. Ask God for direction  
3. Read Scripture regularly with an open heart
4. Listen quietly for guidance from the Holy Spirit (with patience)
     The writer followed up with the explanation of being patient. Patience! I admit that this is not one of my strong suits, but I will try harder.

P.S. After listening to my pastor's sermon this morning, I feel the need to add a Big P. S. in reference to number four above. My pastor stated, "God has not become silent, but maybe we have become deaf." 

3 Devotionals Tied Together

I will attempt to tie my three morning devotionals together. The first one talked about gaining wisdom through wise choices in our trials and being refined into pure gold (gaining endurance and wisdom). The second talked about not serving two masters; of how you will love one and hate the other; (what you love most in life). The third was about redeeming the time; (making the most of every minute, hour, and day). 

     I suppose my best tie-in with all three is that time cannot be “stopped, delayed, reversed, lengthened, or shortened (per the writer)” so I have to use my time wisely to understand my trials, to gain wisdom through them, and let God’s love flow through me in the midst of my trial. During the mix, my time and purpose is to not let money be my goal but rather let God be my guide. In other words, "Love God first, then people, and only let money be a tool." All-in-all I need to understand that I am being refined into pure gold for Christ. 

     I especially enjoyed reading Job 23:10, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” 

     I also like a quote by Robert M’Cheyne that one of the writer’s shared, “If you die wrong the first time, you cannot come back to die better a second time.”

If I Could Only Speak

When God spoke to Noah in Genesis 7, after the flood, He said, “Be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” In Mark 10, Jesus spoke and said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And He took them up in his arms...” 

     There is much to learn about the innocence of a little child. God instructed people to multiply the land and that comes with a responsibility to love and cherish the child and raise them in the admonish of God. Jesus also instructed us to come to him as a child.  

     I often think of the unborn child and how Jesus loves them, and actually wants the parent to love them, teach them, protect them, and learn from them, as well. The child deserves a voice!

      

If I Could Only Speak 

 

If I could speak,

I’d say,

Mom, I long for you to pinch my rosy cheek.

I want to feel your finger within my tiny fist;

For you to lift my hand and it be kissed.

I want to be heard;

For your love to be stirred. 

My heart beats within your womb.

I need you to nurture and help me bloom.

I long to be held in your arms

And be protected from life’s harms.

If I could speak, I’d say, 

If you should choose not to love me so,

I beg you, Mom, to let me grow.

I ask that you allow me life;

To be not taken by a lethal knife.

Mom, I’d rather be adopted than aborted,

Making my life lengthened and not shorted. 

If I could speak, I’d say,

Dear mummy, 

God placed me in your tummy.

I am alive and I feel-

So, to you I make my appeal. 

Please give me a chance to laugh and play;

To enjoy a God-graced day.

Momma-

If I could only speak...

Mary Crisp Jameson 1/16/2026