“The more I detach myself from modern society’s view of success, the happier and more fulfilled I feel.”

Randy HainI remember a particularly poignant question my younger son asked me once during a visit from his grandfather. On the Saturday afternoon of my dad’s visit, my son and I were throwing the baseball outside while my father was taking a short nap in his room.  I can always tell when one of my boys has something on his mind. So I probed and asked him if everything was all right.  He responded with, “Dad, remember when we talked about what it means to be successful a few weeks ago?  Is Papa successful?”

Wow!  That was an interesting question and a mature one from a child his age.  He was referring to a conversation we had a few months previously about being successful in business and what kind of career he wanted to have after college.  I gave him a thoroughly modern version of what I thought success looked like in business, but also made sure we talked about having strong faith and the importance of starting and caring for a family some day as well.  At the time, I had kept it at a high level for him, but his question about my father deserved a deeper answer. …