{"id":1890,"date":"2009-08-24T21:18:21","date_gmt":"2009-08-24T21:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=1890"},"modified":"2009-08-24T21:18:21","modified_gmt":"2009-08-24T21:18:21","slug":"everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of “Success”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \u201cLaugh, Kookaburra.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Pat was driving, and as we passed the turnoff for a shopping center she invited us to picture a four-burner stove.<\/p>\n

\u201cGas or electric?\u201d Hugh asked, and she said that it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

This was not a real stove but a symbolic one, used to prove a point at a management seminar she\u2019d once attended. \u201cOne burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.\u201d The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really<\/em> successful you have to cut off two.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s the whole piece.<\/a> It\u2019s not really about this matter, mind you.<\/p>\n

This is by no means the only word on the subject.\u00a0 But there does seem to be something right about these words.<\/p>\n

We cannot really expect to have it all.\u00a0 If we want a healthy family life and friends and good health but we also want vocational success, something has to give.\u00a0 Nothing is life is free.\u00a0 Everything costs.<\/p>\n

This is really important for Christians to consider.\u00a0 Whether in ministry or not, \u201csuccess,\u201d however defined, doesn\u2019t come for free.\u00a0 This should, I think, temper our ambition and cause us to question our goals.\u00a0 Why do we want what we want?\u00a0 What are we willing to give up to achieve it?\u00a0 Many of us will quickly see that \u201csuccess,\u201d a word which almost always deserve quotation marks, comes at too high a cost.\u00a0 This means that to be happy, we\u2019ll have to give something up in a vocational sense.<\/p>\n

Too many Christians that I have studied make a different choice.\u00a0 Most often, I would guess that we are inclined to give up family (maybe health for some, which often affects the family in the end).\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to spend less time with one\u2019s children than it is one\u2019s friends or one\u2019s work.\u00a0 Children can be taken for granted.\u00a0 They\u2019re around.\u00a0 There is always more time for them.\u00a0 Plus, they already love you.\u00a0 How much time and attention can they really need, or justly claim?<\/p>\n

What is the rub, then?\u00a0 Seems to be this: when you have to downshift, when you have to throw something overboard, make that ambition.\u00a0 Make that future \u201csuccess.\u201d\u00a0 Forget the life coach and the consultants and the \u201cdream big\u201d books.\u00a0 Forget the next guy.\u00a0 Forget trying to be whoever it is in your mind that you\u2019re trying to be.\u00a0 Love your family.\u00a0 Love your children.\u00a0 Don\u2019t write the book.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give the lecture.\u00a0 Don\u2019t cut any burner off.\u00a0 Produce less, and live more.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s going to be tension here for many of us.\u00a0 Sadly, we\u2019ll sin.\u00a0 We\u2019ll try to grow.\u00a0 And so we should.\u00a0 But even with the tension noted, we should do our very best to ignore \u201csuccess\u201d and to seek to be faithful.\u00a0 Maybe one doesn\u2019t have to pit the two against one another.\u00a0 They often, however, seem to end up at odds.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \u201cLaugh, Kookaburra.\u201d Pat was driving, and as we passed the turnoff for a shopping center she invited us to picture a four-burner stove. \u201cGas or electric?\u201d Hugh asked, and she said that it didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[13086,1050,13141,1840,2753],"class_list":["post-1890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","tag-christian-ministry","tag-david-sedaris","tag-family","tag-laugh-kookaburra","tag-success"],"yoast_head":"\nEverything Costs: The Sacrifice of "Success"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled "Laugh, Kookaburra." Pat was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of "Success"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled "Laugh, Kookaburra." Pat was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thought Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/\",\"name\":\"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of \\\"Success\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\"},\"description\":\"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \\\"Laugh, Kookaburra.\\\" Pat was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of “Success”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\",\"name\":\"Thought Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\",\"name\":\"Owen Strachan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Owen Strachan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of \"Success\"","description":"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \"Laugh, Kookaburra.\" Pat was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of \"Success\"","og_description":"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \"Laugh, Kookaburra.\" Pat was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/","og_site_name":"Thought Life","article_published_time":"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00","author":"Owen Strachan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Owen Strachan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/","name":"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of \"Success\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-24T21:18:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53"},"description":"I found this sobering illustration of the cost of success in a recent David Sedaris feature for the New Yorker entitled \"Laugh, Kookaburra.\" Pat was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/08\/everything-costs-the-sacrifice-of-success\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Everything Costs: The Sacrifice of “Success”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/","name":"Thought Life","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53","name":"Owen Strachan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Owen Strachan"},"sameAs":["brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}