When you hear the word, accomplish/accomplishment what springs into your mind? I always think of ‘victory’ – gaining victory over something, not someone. For me, accomplishment is typically defined in terms of self success. Webster says that accomplish means, “to succeed in doing” and then stops at defining ‘doing’. I like that because I can determine/define the focus of the doing.
A sense of accomplishment is really critical to our mental health because otherwise we feel like we are banging our head against a brick wall with no penetration. Our strength gets sapped, our energy becomes nonexistent and basically we feel like giving up. Let’s face it – we’ve all felt that way one time or another. So what did you do? Pull yourself up by your bootstrap?
I find that every, and I do mean every, time I try for victory over some very important ‘thing’ that if I rely totally on my own powers that I inevitably get tired. Oh, I may eventually succeed and that is a good feeling, but when I look back I see all the pot holes I fell into that I didn’t need to or the missteps that might have been avoided. It is true that hindsight is 100%.
So what could I have done. Actually I could have stopped striving and found the Lord’s answer. It’s always there in scripture, when I take the time to look for it. Remember the V-8 ad when the character slaps his head and says… I could have had a V-8? Well, that’s typically the feeling I get, after the fact, when I begin to analyze what happened.
We really are a creation that feels that we need to do ‘it’ on our own. Yes, but there’s no law against seeking assistance. What we can do is stop, go in prayer about the situation, find the scripture to stand on, and proceed. Now if I can only remember this, AT the time……
