Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.
Romans 12:12
STORY
Standing on stage before an assembly of student at Fairmount Junior High School in Cleveland, Ohio, was the athlete hailed by sports writes as “the fastest man alive.” Charlie Paddock, a 1920 Olympic Gold Medalist, came to declare that the youth could obtain their goals. Paddock thundered, “Do you know who you are? Well, I’m here to tell you. You are Americans and you have it in you to become what you want, that is, if you will form a goal, if you believe in that goal and in yourself, if you work and never give up. If you trust God all the way, you can be what you want to be; and that is the plain truth about every one of you.”
A poor, frail, skinny 15-year-old Black teenager sat in the front row, intensely listening to the speaker’s oration. After the address he rushed from his theater set up onto the stage to greet his hero. Afterward the youth recounted that as he grabbed Paddock’s hand, “An electric shock or some kind of impulse passed from him into me. I could feel it all the way from my head to my feet.” Immediately the boy charged to the gymnasium, shouting, “Coach, I’ve got a dream! I’m going to be the next Charlie Paddock. I’m going to be the fattest man alive.”
He pursued his dream. He held the image aloft. And the 1936 Olympic games championed a new gold medalist and a new “fastest man alive” – Jesse Owens.
DEVOTION
Dream about your future: what you like to accomplish; how you would like to be remembered. Be bold, hold high lofty ambitions and noble ventures. Persevere, remaining steadfast and resilient against all obstacles to achieve all that you aspire.
Think positively, realizing that you are a person possessing many wonderful talents and splendid attributes. Often the only barrier between you and your dream is self-doubt. This is why everyone should mediate day and night on this one word written by the Apostle Paul: persevere.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “A man is what the thinks about all day.” If the day is spent spawning negative thoughts, then all adventures are doomed to failure. If the day is spent with positive thoughts, then that dream will be accomplished. The dream that you harbor will be achieved. A new mental attitude is invigorating.
On September 17, 1942, Colonel Leslie R. Groves was selected to oversee the Manhattan Project. The purpose of the project was to develop the world’s first atomic bomb. Even though the assignment came with a promotion to brigadier general, he was disappointed with the assignment. Yearning for an overseas combat assignment, he was disgruntled by the prospect of commanding a trivial administrative position in Washington, D.C. Besides, the project held little promise of success. The colonel, utterly frustrated, realized: an inadequate amount of uranium had been mined; scientists were uncertain about the chemical properties of plutonium; production equipment had yet to be designed; acquisition of a plant site was in abeyance; the entire nuclear process was only a theory. Perturbed, Groves judged, “The whole endeavor was founded on possibilities rather than probabilities.” Though, it was in the midst of those possibilities that the A-Bomb was created.
Frequently it is “possibilities” and not “probabilities” that propel us forward toward our desired goal. We are sustained by the belief that it can be done. Industrialist Henry Ford understood this principle when he pronounced, “Whether you think you can or think that you can’t – you are right.” The outcome of every enterprise will be dependent on your mental disposition.
Thomas Alva Edison was never defeated by failure. After 50,000 unsuccessful attempts to develop the nickel-iron-alkaline battery, a friend asked the esteem inventor if he was disillusioned. Edison encouragingly responded, “I have learned fifty thousand ways it cannot be done, and therefore I am fifty thousand times nearer the final successful experiment.” Eventually, the battery was developed. Edison was a genius, and a substantial part of his genius was knowing that he would never yield to disappointment.
It was a cold and frosty March morning in 1916, when the thin young man left his home in New Rochelle. The 22-year-old was bound for the New York City’s Penn Station. From there he would board a train for the city of Brotherly Love. He carried an unwieldly case, one that he had specifically made for his journey to Philadelphia.
After hours of travel, he arrived at his desired destination. He sat outside the office of George Horace Lorimar. Carefully protected in his cumbersome satchel were two paintings and three pencil sketches, painstakingly prepared for this moment. Afraid that he would be turned away without an audience, he had no appointment with the revered publisher. Instead, he chose to arrive unannounced, hoping that his vigilance would grant him entrance. The artist believed in his ability; knowing only one showing would be necessary to convince the editor. The wait began.
Endless moments passed when finally the drawings, but not he artist, were taken into Lorimar’s office. Returned was a contract, and for the next six decades over 300 cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post were painted by Norman Rockwell.
Believe in yourself – Persevere – Chase your dreams