"There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness." Henri Nouwen

What is more important to you eternally, to be successful in the eyes of the world or to bear fruit that will last eternally? Success may come as a result of a great price to the individual’s ultimate destiny. Jesus asked the question this way: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?” (Mk 8:36) Then in the Gospel of John Jesus gives the true meaning of our life. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.^”  (John 15:16) What is that fruit? It is love in which we seek to do the will of God and continue in the sharing of his gift of divine life. When we die our success and fame will not follow us, but the fruit of a life of love will. Are you chasing after success or are you seeking eternal life with God?