SUCCESS

In October of 1983 Success Magazine reported a study by the Gallup organization which ranked the criteria individuals identified as necessary for one to have feelings of personal success.

Good health topped the list followed closely by an enjoyable job and a happy family. Peace of mind, a good education and good friends also scored high.

Interestingly, gathering little support as a barometer for feeling successful were such concepts as having enough money to buy anything, talent, luck, luxury cars and expensive homes.

I am not sure how the same poll would reflect the ranking of these criteria in the second decade of the 21st century, but it was gratifying at that time of my life to see that at least to the respondents of that particular survey, the citizens of the United States of America were less materialistic than most of us would have supposed.

However, as I read further into the article, a second set of results were revealed which almost debunked the statistics of the first part of the piece which revealed that there was not a tremendous rejection of materialism as a measure of success.

The second question that was surveyed asked the respondents to identify people or groups who they deemed to be successful.
Sadly, this list will sound much more familiar to we who are guests in the world of today’s millennials.

Heading the list were people whose lives were based on talents, amount of things accumulated, or money amassed and visibility due to being at the top of their particular profession.

When I was recently reminded of this duplicity in measuring personal success versus successful others, the thought came to me: What questions would be asked in a survey on success during mortality, if Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus the Christ were conducting the poll?

Please rank yourself to the following questions:

Do I consider the following: (A. Very Important B. Important C. Not Important)

1. That a person must be born again, becoming a new creature in Christ. (A. B. C.)

2. That happiness and joy will be achieved through using my agency to choose the right. (A. B. C.)

3. That Jesus the Christ has defined the straight and narrow path which leads unto Eternal Life. (A. B. C.)

4. That I demonstrate love for God by living His commandments and being of service to my fellowmen. (A. B. C.)

5. That gain is bought by losing my need of things by edifying others. (A. B. C.)

Now, just so we can validate our survey, could we all rank the same questions according to the following criteria?

How often do I align my actions with the following: (A. Seldom B. Occasionally C. Often)

1. A person must be born again, becoming a new creature in Christ. (A. B. C.)

2. Happiness and joy will be achieved through using my agency to choose the right. (A. B. C.)

3. Jesus the Christ has defined the straight and narrow path which leads unto Eternal Life. (A. B. C.)

4. I demonstrate love for God by living His commandments and being of service to my fellowmen. (A. B. C.)

5. Gain is bought by losing my need of things by edifying others. (A. B. C.)

Hopefully, the results of this survey will be unlike the survey in Success Magazine where there was an obvious gulf between what people felt they wanted success to look like and what they viewed in others who they felt had achieved success.

As you tally the results of your responses to this very minimal celestial success survey, it would be wonderful if there was a very positive correlation between those teachings of the Master which we believe to be very important (A.) and the frequency of our activity in inculcating those teachings in our everyday lives (C.).

It would also be wonderful if we were to take this survey again in a month or a year from now, we would find whatever gulf existed would have narrowed a bit, because the narrowing of this gap will have significant meaning not just in this world, but in the Eternal worlds to come.

THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY
EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY