Success means dying

"What does success at home look like?  When the husband does every day for his wife and kids and the wife does the same."

Oh how I want to be successful at home!  The quote above came from a Focus on the Family podcast and at just the right time for me.

Some things success at home is NOT:

-a clean house

-a beautiful house

-perfectly well-mannered children

-a trendy wardrobe

-the appearance if having it "all together"

-daily exercise

I could go on...and not that some of these things might be RESULTS of success at home, but when my priorities get out of whack, the results are catastrophic.

Seems like every time I try to "do right" or change, my own self gets in the way. I do the things I don't want to do and I don't do the things I do want to do! (See Romans 7). To paraphrase Paul:  "Who will save me from my own crazy cycle?!  Thanks be to God for stepping in and giving me a way out!"

Killing myself every day might seem like an impossible task. And it is. But with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26).  

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NIV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4 ESV)

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 ESV)

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24 ESV)