BE THE LAST MAN/WOMAN STANDING!

PERSISTENCE BEATS ALL ELSE

A young man approaches a sage and asks him for the way to happiness and success. Without a word, the sage points to the East. The young man happily runs off hoping to get to success without struggle. A few minutes later, he comes back panting and exhausted having run for his life from a pack of hyenas. He impatiently implores the sage to tell him the way to happiness. The sage points again to the same direction. The young man walks towards the shown direction albeit cautiously. Again, he comes back panting and bruised. At this time, he shouts angrily at the sage to at least speak and say what he means or show that he understood the question. The sage speaks at last and says that success and fulfillment were to be found just after the place the hyenas roamed.

Water finds its way down to the sea after hitting persistently over stones, going around boulders, getting drunk by people and animals, heated and evaporated but never gives up. The same philosophy is well applied by the ants.

Whether we shall be successful or not is marked by our willingness to face the hyenas that stand in the way to our success. This world is filled by people who never tried because they allowed fear instead of faith to rule them. The non-achievers, and they are quite a number, are those who gave up at sight of the first hyena. They therefore settle for a life of complaining how bad the hyenas are and how they can’t be beaten. But they never tried to fight them and if they did, not long enough, with courage, prayer and determination.

“To finish first, you must first finish!” Wonderful words from Champion racer Rick Mears. The book of proverbs 22:29 says; “You see a man diligent (persistent) in his work? He will stand in the presence of Kings; he will not stand in the presence of obscure men.”

Keep going even if others tell you to stop. Believe in your dreams after thoroughly examining them. Keep going. Pope Benedict XVI defined Holiness as not in never sinning, (failing) but in rising up every time we sin (fail). Beautiful words. The words of Hamilton Holt are wonderful; “Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Half effort does not produce half results. It produces no results. Work, continuous work and hard work is the only way to accomplish results that last.” No one finds life worth living. One must make it worth living with persistent prayers and smart, hard work.

Persistence is bitter but sweet in its results. Only those who are willing to eat of this bitterness will savor the sweetness of the results. Victor always belongs to the last man standing in a war. Success and fulfillment begins where most people give up. If only we could have the courage to hang on, one minute longer, it would make all the difference. Persistent people have this attitude: they never lose the game, they just run out of time.

If you want to have the success of the 5% of the population, you must be willing to do what only 5% of the population is willing to do. The question is, will you?