A thought by John C. Maxwell from his
book, Beyond Talent (p. 159).
HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to
Amazon.com to buy the book.)
I know, I know, that thought will not
draw many to it, but if I want to really make a difference, I need to come to
grips with the reality of it.
John says, “Advice columnist Ann
Landers wrote, ‘If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful
bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it
squarely in the eye and say, ‘“I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.’”
“Adversity is always the partner of
progress. Anytime we want to move forward, obstacles, difficulties, problems,
and predicaments are going to get in the way. We should expect nothing less.
And we should even welcome such things. Novelist H. G. Wells asked, ‘What on
earth would a man do with himself if something didn’t stand in his way?’ Why
would he make such a comment? Because he recognized that adversity is our
friend, even though it doesn’t feel that way. Every obstacle we overcome
teaches us about ourselves, about our strengths and weaknesses. Every obstacle
shapes us. When we succeed in the midst of difficulty, we become stronger, wiser,
and more confident. The greatest people in history are those who faced the most
difficult challenges with courage and rose to the occasion. That was certainly
true of Winston Churchill.”
John goes on, “Pat Williams, in his
book American Scandal, writes about Churchill’s last months. He says in 1964,
former president and World War II general Dwight D. Eisenhower went to visit
the former prime minister. Eisenhower sat by the bold-spirited leader’s bed for
a long period of time, neither speaking. After about ten minutes, Churchill
slowly raised his hand and painstakingly made the ‘V’ for victory sign, which
he had so often flashed to the British public during the war. Eisenhower,
fighting back tears, pulled his chair back, stood up, saluted him, and left the
room. To his aide out in the hallway, Eisenhower said, ‘I just said goodbye to
Winston, but you never say farewell to courage.’”
John then says, “It’s tempting to
learn about the life of someone like Churchill or Eisenhower and believe that
certain people are born with courage and are destined for greatness while
others must sit on the sidelines and simply admire them. But I don’t think that
is true. I believe that anyone can develop courage.”
So, let’s not run from adversity but
use it to develop the person we can be and the courage that we will need. Will you do that?
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