It’s Not About the Results

I was recently doing some research for a project I’m working on, and I came across this quote (said by Jesus to Faustina) in St. Faustina’s diaries, “I do not reward for good results but for the patience and hardship undergone for my sake.”

As a member of the millenial generation, I’m all too familiar with the “results” trap. I was thinking about this recently, as I’ve been working my way through Pioneer Girl, the recently published autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and have also been re-reading her original books. One of the things that strikes me is that – on the surface – Laura’s family doesn’t seem to be much of a success. Their results are often minimal, and even when they are successful, their results (a good garden, a snugly built cabin) are primarily only enjoyed by their family.

I wish I could find content in mere self-sufficiency, but I constantly fall prey to the same old insecurities. Am I successful? Am I doing enough? Is it enough that I just kept two small people alive today? Is it alright if my book proposal or article is rejected for publication? What do I have to accomplish to make my life “worth it?”

To answer that question, we need to look at the other end of life.  For an aging or elderly person, it matters not how many hours a week they worked in their young adulthood, or how many memos they sent out or meetings they led. What does matter is how much they loved, even in those small imperceptible ways that seem not to matter at the time.

So, then, what results matter?

Let’s go back to the Little House on the Prairie books. What makes these stories so enduring? What makes us so attracted to these books?

They are the story of a family.

What makes us come back to these books over and over again is the fact that they are the story of a family who loves deeply. They treat one another with immense respect. They try to live out their faith, and they long for God even when they are miles and miles from a church. But above all else, their family life is beautiful. It is that very beauty that we are attracted to. 

Beauty is not something that can be checked off of a to-do list. It is not something that you can put on a resume. It is not something that you can measure with concrete results. It just is. 

The ultimate standard for beauty is the cross. By all estimations, it should be grotesque, but it is not. It is beautiful, because of the love emanating from He who hangs there.

With that as our model, perhaps that is the kind of results we should aim for – in our work, in our personal life, in our families. We should work towards creating and promoting beauty, beauty styled after the cross. That kind of beauty can be found and cultivated even in the most challenging, most discouraging of circumstances. That kind of beauty is found in the face of the poor and suffering – even the poor and suffering in our own homes.

That kind of beauty reflects Christ, and that is what makes it attractive and enduring.

Michele Chronister

Michele Chronister

Michele Chronister is a theologian (married to a theologian), mother to two little girls, and freelance writer on the side. She is received her BA and MA in theology from the University of Notre Dame (’09 and ’11) but her favorite way to use her degrees is answering her preschooler’s questions about faith at bedtime. She is the author of Handbook for Adaptive Catechesis and the co-author of Faith Beginnings – Family Nurturing from Birth Through Preschool (both published through Ligouri publications). She has also contributed articles to Catholic Digest and Catechetical Leader, and is a member of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability’s Council on Intellectual and Development Disabilities. When he oldest was a baby, she realized that their family life had taken on a sort of monastic rhythm – eat, pray, play, sleep. Prompted by this, she started the blog My Domestic Monastery (www.mydomesticmonastery.com), where she shares inspiration for families wanting to grow in holiness.

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