Ambition

This week my brother shared a link to a site online which looks at your Facebook page, compiles the data, and spits out generalities about you.  Fairly normal so far, right?   Wrong!

The single weirdest thing it said was that I am... get this: ambitious.  Ambitious!  I find this shocking, because I've always considered myself a bit of an underachiever.  So this just doesn't make a lot of sense.

  Now, the program was using the term as the opposite of content.  Soooo that leaves us at an impasse. Biblically, ambition is not the opposite of contentment.  Discontent and grumbling is the opposite of contentment.  Ambition, or zeal, can be a good thing.  In fact, when one is zealous to honor God is an excellent thing. 

If I am ambitious, I hope it is in seeking to honor the Lord in the life He has given me.  Sometimes this means tackling enormous projects, but sometimes it means letting go of what 'I' want to do to help, and being willing to stand back and wait. This seems to be the main lesson God is teaching me right now. 

John Milton, On His Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one Talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest He returning chide,

"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;

They also serve who only stand and wait."