All rising to great place is by a winding stair. – Francis Bacon
We must be patient.
There are a lot of lessons life is willing to teach us if we let it and this one is one if its most valuable and, virtually by definition, the one that takes the longest to learn.
Few accomplish anything of substance their first time out. Even those with a knack for something specific need time to perfect their skills. Those that do achieve everything they thought they wanted early in life often find themselves wondering what’s next.
This is because once the euphoria of accomplishment has passed, and you might be surprised at how soon this happens, human nature will take over and you will wake up one morning looking for a purpose for your life. If you do not have something worthwhile to work towards, you might find your days nothing more than a void, 24 hours to be endured until you wake up and have to endure 24 more hours.
All rising to great place is by a winding stair…
Middle age is a great line of demarcation in a person’s life. Sure, we should be looking back at some successes, but there must always be something to work towards.
Benjamin Franklin is an excellent example of this. Already esteemed the world over when dispatched to France by the Continental Congress in his 70’s, Franklin added to his reputation and his place in history by obtaining French support for the America Revolution and, after the war, negotiating peace with the British.
He didn’t have to. He could have retired. But a hallmark of Franklin’s long, useful life was he never stopped trying to new things. Till the day he died he always had a purpose for his life.
We must, too. We must never ask “What if?” or wonder “What now?”
