Building a Generation with Character and Achievement
Nowadays, people like instant things more and more. Various forms of instant food and services that offer convenience and speed develop rapidly, especially for urban communities that are known to be busy.
With various advances, it is as if we are being “spoiled” with various conveniences. Students who are studying can immediately find answers to their problems just by accessing the internet. Most of the students are also “provided” with tutors who help them study or do their homework. Parents are often impatient with the process and expect instant results from their children. When their children aren’t motivated or unable to learn, many parents immediately leave it to schools, tutors, psychologists, etc, with the hope that these parties can change their children quickly and improve their’s children’s achievement. Someone even said, “I am a ‘result’ person not a ‘process’ person. For me, what’s important is the result, I don’t care what the process is like.”
Is it true that a result is more important than the process of achieving the result? Are we aiming solely for an outcome regardless of the process that must be passed?
If we pay attention to the stories in the Bible, we will find that it turns out that God is a person who attaches great importance to a “process”. Every important character in the Bible who has a big role is always prepared in advance through a process before they can become extraordinary individuals with extraordinary achievements. The clearest example is found in the story about Joseph. Before Joseph became the ruler of Egypt, he was processed by God. Joseph was sold, made into slavery, slandered, and put in prison. The forging process that was done by God made Joseph have a strong character and was ready to take responsibility as the ruler of Egypt. Apart from Joseph, Moses was also processed by God for 40 years as a shepherd in Midian before finally being declared ready by God to carry out the call to release the Israelites from Egyptian oppression.
A wise word states, “Success is a journey, not a destination - Success is a journey, not a final destination.” (Ben Sweeland). This means that success isn’t an achievement or result but success involves all processes in achieving that result. When Thomas Alva Edison experienced many failures while experimenting with making light bulbs, he saw his failures as part of his success process, as seen in his inspirational expression, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” (Thomas Alva Edison).
Let us become individuals who want to process. In this instantaneous era, we shouldn’t be tempted to achieve success in an instant way. Let us become individuals who are not only successful in the eyes of humans but also successful in the sight of God by properly processing the achievements we want.
Monica, M.Psi., Psikolog