Whose Glory Are We Chasing?

If you spend any amount of time on social media, you'll quickly find people telling you the secret to success.

• Wake up earlier.

• Work harder.

• Hustle more.

• Manifest it.

• Build the empire.

  
  

For a long time, we believed success depended mostly on us. If we worked hard enough, planned well enough, and made all the right decisions, then good things would happen.

If we're being honest, our relationship with God often fit into that mindset too. We checked prayer off like another item on our to-do list. Sometimes, if life felt busy or things were going well, we left God "unread" for days or even weeks…until something went wrong and suddenly our cries for help came rushing back.

We share this not because we've arrived, but because we're still growing. Our relationship with the Lord is something we're continually learning to prioritize, and I have a feeling we're not the only ones who have fallen into that pattern.

In recent years, we've been intentional about seeking Him consistently, not just when life feels uncertain or we need an answer, but in every season. Our circumstances still change, but our desire is that our relationship with Him won't.

Over the past few years, our family has experienced incredible blessings alongside some of our hardest seasons. We've celebrated new businesses, amazing clients, and opportunities we never imagined. We've also walked through moments that brought us to our knees, moments where no amount of hard work or careful planning could fix what was happening.

Those seasons changed us.

They reminded us that every good gift comes from God, and that every opportunity we have is something we've been entrusted with, not something we've earned on our own.

At Pine Media, we absolutely work hard. We believe in showing up for our clients, doing excellent work, continually learning, and giving every project our best effort.

But we've also learned that our work is only part of the equation.

God opens doors that we could never force open ourselves.

He brings the right people into our lives.

He teaches us through failures.

He closes doors that weren't meant for us.

And sometimes He asks us to trust Him long before we understand what He's doing.

As Christian business owners, it's easy to begin measuring ourselves by revenue, follower counts, client lists, awards, or growth.

Those things aren't inherently bad. But they make terrible foundations.

Because if our identity is built on success, we'll eventually be crushed by failure. And if our identity is built on failure, we'll never have the confidence to keep moving forward.

We've been learning to measure success differently.

• Success is serving people with excellence.

• Success is treating clients honestly.

• Success is keeping our integrity even when nobody is watching.

• Success is putting our family before our calendars.

• Success is using whatever talents God has given us to serve others well.

  
  

And when growth comes? The glory belongs to Him.

When business is slow? We trust Him anyway.

That doesn't mean we stop working. Scripture is full of encouragement to work diligently and steward what we've been given. We still set goals. We still market. We still dream big.

But we've learned to hold those dreams with open hands.

Because ultimately, Pine Media isn't ours. Our family isn't ours. Our time isn't ours.

Everything we have has first been given by God. One verse has continued to shape how we want to live and run our businesses:

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."  1 Peter 4:10

That verse reminds us that our talents aren't meant to build our own names. They're meant to serve others and point back to the One who gave them to us.

That's one of the reasons we decided to begin sharing these personal blog posts. Pine Media exists to help businesses grow, but if God has given us a platform, even a small one, we want to use it to point back to Him.

These blogs aren't written because we've figured life or business out. They're written because we're learning too. As God continues to shape our hearts, we simply want to share what He's teaching us and give Him the glory along the way.

Our hope is that every business we build, every client we serve, every product we create, and every conversation we have reflects that truth.

Will we always get it right? No. We'll make mistakes. We'll have stressful days. We'll sometimes become distracted by numbers and deadlines. But our prayer is that we continually return to what matters most. To love God. To love people. To steward our work faithfully. And to remember that if any success comes our way, every bit of the glory belongs to Him.