| The Golden Gate of Prayer |
Chapter 10 |
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The world has no other standard of success. It may be the amassing of wealth; it may be the winning of power among men in the state or in war; it may be the triumph of skill of genius in art, in literature, in music, in oratory, — whatever the definite object may be, it is purely an earthly ambition. The two elements in the life, according to this view, are, that the career is one which the world honors, and that a man wins worthy distinction in it.
Applying this standard to life, but few men are really successful. Great men are as rare as lofty mountain peaks. Only a few win the high places; the mass remain in the low vales. The percentage of those who succeed in business is small. In the professions, too, in literature, in art, in civil life, in all the callings, it is the same, — only a few win honor, rise into fame, achieve distinction, while the great multitude remain in obscurity or go down in the dust of earthly defeat.
Is this the only standard of success in life? Do all men, save the few who win earth’s prizes, really fail? Is there no other kind of success? The world’s answer gives no comfort to those who find themselves among the unhonored. But there is another sphere, the sphere of the invisible. There is a life whose tokens and tests are not material, but spiritual. One may utterly fail, so far as earthly results are concerned, and yet, in the realm invisible, be a splendid winner in the race.
“Faithfulness in the humblest part
Is better, at least, then proud success;
And patience and love in a chastened heart
Are pearls more precious than happiness;
And in the morning when we shall awake
To the springtime freshness of youth again,
All troubles will seem but a flying flake,
And lifelong sorrow a breath on the pane.”
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