Thursday, July 17, 2008

Success is a State of Mind

Many people assume that success is a matter of luck. However, while luck,which usually involves being in the right place at the right time, may play a part in success, those who are successful are generally those who are on the lookout for opportunity.

A good example of this is the story about the clergyman and the flood which goes like this:

There was once a very devout clergyman who spent hours in prayer each day and whose response to the fears and those of others was to say "Don't worry. The Lord will provide".



One day it began to rain very hard and the public was warned to leave town and flee to higher ground away from the storm. As the clergyman sat in his home praying one of the families in his congregation came by in their car and offered to take him with them. But he declined saying "Don't worry, the Lord will provide for me".

The family left him in his house and soon the water level began rising, flooding the street and forcing the clergyman to move upstairs to escape the rising water. A couple fleeing in a boat saw him sitting in his window and rowed over and encouraged him to get in their boat but he declined saying "Don't worry, the Lord will provide for me". So they rowed on leaving him sitting in his window.

The water continued to rise and he was forced to climb onto his roof to avoid being swept away by the water. The crew of a rescue helicopter saw him and dropped a rope ladder down encouraging him to climb aboard. But he waved them away saying "Don't worry, the Lord will provide for me".

Soon the water rose to the point where its waves rolled over the roof of the house, sweeping the clergyman away where he drowned.

Upon arriving in Heaven, the clergyman angrily confronted God demanding to know why God had ignored his pleas for help after he had been such a loyal and trusting servant of God all his life. To which God replied "How can you accuse me of ignoring you? Didn't I send a car, a boat and a helicopter to take you to safety? And you declined all of these offers of help."

The moral is that opportunity doesn't grab you and make you a success - you have to recognize and grab it if you want to be successful.

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