true success

A provocative quote from Peter Leithart in Touchstone:

We think success means being so good or so great that no one can do without us, yet a successful scholar is one whose work continues in his students long after he retires, and a successful entrepreneur is one whose company chugs merrily along while he's taking a holiday on the beach. A successful parent is one who, eventually, doesn't have to be there.

Success is a movement into invisibility. Success is decreasing so that others may increase. Success is a seed dying in the ground and bearing fruit upward. Success is becoming dispensable. The successful man is the one who will not be missed.

Are you successful?