Abraham Lincoln said, “I believe the will of God prevails; without him all human reliance is vain; without the assistance of that divine being I cannot succeed; with that assistance I cannot fall.” It takes a person trying different things to become successful; of course, at the forefront of successful people is their great habits and will of God. The ingredient for success is great habits. Our human instinct is to succeed in life, but there are only a few who are willing to pay the price.
Success is achieved because of habits. Making a habit of doing the same thing over and over again can bring about perfection. Athletes are not great because they are born with greatness; they are great because of their habits striving towards perfection.
Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson achieved their greatness in golf because they made it a habit to practice winning golf shots until they had perfected them. They had an eye on becoming great but it was their commitment to repeated regular practice that determined their great success.
Those who are great servants of people make it their habit to help those who are less fortunate. A great example is the story of Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner, twin sisters now deceased, who founded Knoxville’s Love Kitchen and worked tirelessly throughout their lives to provide meals and other supplies to people in need. The Love Kitchen’s success earned national news attention and acclaim. Speaking recently about the sisters, former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam said, “I think through their incredibly generous loving hearts and their hardworking attitude, they helped change lives for a lot of people–both who they served and those who came to serve with them.” Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner didn’t set out to gain notoriety in their work. They were highly successful because they made it a habit of doing what those who were discouraging said couldn’t be done.
This month we celebrate some of the great work of black people in America. And we start with the life of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Nobel Peace Prize winner and noted leader of our country’s civil rights movement. He was also a man who consistently practiced what he preached. His actions as well as his words inspired people to fight injustices through peaceful pursuits. Speaking about the need for civil rights legislation, Dr. King said, “So while the law may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men. And when you change the habits of men, pretty soon the attitudes and hearts will be changed.”
So, the secret for success lies in our daily routine. Each day that we rise from our bed, let us make it a habit to do something good for ourselves, our neighbor or both and Never Give Up! Never Give Up! Never Give Up!
By Chaplain Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net
