Blog
»
The
Vast
Majority of Us Go to Our Graves
Without Knowing Who We Are
Friday,
January 23, 2015
In
1959,
LK Jordan’s grandmother took a pair of scissors and cut the following
editorial out of the Atlanta Journal and wrote the words “for Skipper” (LK’s
dad had told him he was the “skipper” of the house when his dad left home to
serve in the Navy in WWII) at the bottom.
These many years later, LK, and now we, can glean much wisdom from what
one woman wanted to pass on to her grandson.
(Please note, in particular, the difference between “whistle stops”
and “destination”)
THE
PLAN IS SIMPLE BUT IT IS WORKABLE
Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal, March 6, 1959
Young
people, just reaching out after life, are much more anxious to lay hold of the
right things
than many of us more mature people give them credit for being.
A
recent piece about rules for living keeps bringing in results. Several young
people have come
around to talk. One especially impresses me. He has a potential that might well
project him into a field of life where his usefulness would mean much to many.
Right
now, he is confused. "You used
a phrase some time back that fits me like a glove" he
said with a smile. "You said
sometimes a man will have a lost feeling — like a dog at a country
fair."
I
remember that phrase but not in the connection in which he used it.
"That's me," he said.
"I'm in college, in fact will be soon graduating, but there are
times when I feel just that."
Then he asked for a formula that would give him assurance that his life would mean
something — to himself and to others.
I
gave him one that someone gave me long years ago. It did me good and I thought
it might help him. I will pass it
along because it might even help others.
1.
"The
good Lord has a place for you in the scheme of things." That very thought,
if
accepted
and acted upon, will make a man stand up to life.
"I doubt not through the ages one
increasing purpose runs." It encourages one to feel that he is not left
out, but that in
the plan of life there is a special part for him.
2.
“You
can find that place.” The first puzzle question is "How?" Study the
Scriptures.
Read biography. Dig into the lives of people who have "arrived" and
you will see that it
was mainly by knowing what were whistle stops and what were real destinations.
I
say with assurance that a man can find his place and know for sure that it is
his real place. I look back and see the whistle stops I once thought were the
destinations. Baseball once looked to me like a destination. Then being an
engineer on a train. I even once
thought I would like to be a clown in a circus. At the moment, they all looked
like destinations.
Now I know they were just whistle stops. Just don't get off the train before
you arrive.
3. When you have found your place, don't
grumble because it is small, if it is small.
Discharge every duty as though there
depended on your faithfulness the destiny of all humanity. Maybe you will never arrive at a large place as the world judges
largeness.
Who
can tell what a big place is? Impossible, just as you cannot tell who the
"big preachers" are. Anyone who has a place, even a small place, and
does his work in a big way, is a great person.
You should read Kiplinger about "When earth's last picture is painted,
and the tubes are all twisted and dried . . . . "
His greatest line is "Each for the joy of
working, and each in his separate star, shall paint the thing as he sees it —
for the God of things as they are.”
Just
remember these three simple facts. There is a place for me. If I try hard
enough, I can find
my place. And finally, if I will fill that place to the best of my ability, life
will smile upon
me and reward me for my work.
by
Pierce Harris, marked for "Skipper" by his Grandmother Jordan
For more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
