What Success Really Is...

"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:2-3

I want to hand off my blog this week to my thirteen year old son, who had his very first “Big Poetry Assignment” this week, and came up with this, which he plopped down on my desk for review:

What Success Really Is

By Anthony Faggioli IV

What is success? You may wonder.

Well, you won’t have to make a blunder

I’ll tell you…

To make a friend laugh loudly;

To work hard at your job,

even if it seems like you carry the weight of the world;

To win the respect of peers and friends

and the affection of lovers;

To have a good time with family;

To admire nature, with its beautiful forests and sparkling rivers, like a great art critic

With appreciation and understanding;

That, my friend, is what success really is.

I'm not sure how that winning the “affection of lovers” thing is going to go over with his Mom, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. As for me? I’m not going to front: I got a little choked up before regaining my manly-man composure (okay, I just fronted). Anthony couldn't believe I really liked it that much, but that’s okay. He will someday, God Willing, when he has kids of his own. It seems like not that long ago that my boy was just scribbling. Now he's writing poetry.It's special. Our children (and grandchildren, and nieces and nephews) are a gift. That’s for sure. And they’re a gift that keeps on giving, one moment, one surprise, one challenge and one delight at a time.