OH! Hey, October, HEY!!!

​Grace and peace, beloveds… and a very blessed October to all y’all.
Can you believe we are already ten months into the year? Three hundred four days gone—just like that. How has it been for you? What have you carried, released, or held close? And most importantly: how do you want to spend these last sixty-one days so that, when the calendar turns, you can look back and say 2026 was a year well lived, a successful year?
Of course, that depends on how we define success.
In our consumer-driven world, success is often measured by what we can see and show: the bigger house in the “right” neighborhood, the newest tech gadgets, the fancy car, the designer bag, the shiny, expensive watch. If we look the part, we must be doing well, right? If we keep up with the Joneses…or at least look like we are, we must be okay. And then we post the carefully filtered version of it all so everyone else can see how “successful” we are. (Yes, I’m guilty of that too.)
To be fair, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the good things God has placed in our hands. We work hard; we play harder. A little beauty, a little comfort, a little joy in what we have been given can be a gift in itself. But possessions do not equal success, and they were never meant to be the measuring stick of a life well lived. Why? Because they were never ours to begin with.
Paul puts it plainly in 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT):
“For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?”
Everything. From our very first breath to the last word, we will speak. The coffee in our cup (thank you, Jesus!). The strength and ability to work. The roof over our heads. Every single thing we “own” is a gift from our generous, gracious Creator.
True success, then, is not measured by what we accumulate, but by how we steward what we have been given. It is found in the ways we align our lives with God’s generosity—how we enrich the lives of those around us, how we show up with open hands and open hearts. The moment you let someone go ahead of you in the grocery line. The door you held for that exhausted Mom wrestling with a baby and a toddler. The meal you brought to a neighbor facing hard news. These quiet, ordinary acts of kindness are the things that outlast any shiny object that will one day fade or break.
People will not remember your car or your watch, or your red-bottom shoes.
They will remember how you made them feel seen, valued, and loved.
So, as we walk (or dance) through these remaining days of the year, let’s measure success not by what we hold onto, but by what we freely share. May our lives become living witnesses to the One who has given us everything…marked by generous living, generous giving, and daily gratitude.
God loves all y’all- and so do I.
Pr. Suzanne