5/29/02
Take On The Impossible

Michael - Friday's Inspiration

• Proverbs 4

•  Galatians 5

George Walter Fiske often told the story of a cartoon depicting a young lady who, just graduated from college and diploma in hand, was soon enough being confronted by the grim visage of the old World himself. "Well, who have we here?" says the World. "You evidently don't know me," replied the slightly pained young graduate; "I am Virginia Cordelia Smith, A.B." "My dear girl," replied the World, "come with me, and I will teach you the rest of your alphabet."

There are few, if any positions in life that have no difficulties. Higher education is not only found in the halls of institutions for higher learning. Mistakes made in the process of living often form our best experience. Wisdom is learned more from failure than from success, and we are more likely to discover what we will do by determining what we will not do. Horne Tooke used to say that he had become all the more acquainted with the country from having the good fortune of losing his way. But there are times when, to do something which may seem impossible, there is no other way than to exercise discipline and go forth.

The World has a way of placing one difficulty after the other, taking away these two and adding a third, heavier, perhaps, than either, but never so heavy that we are broken rather than bruised. Oddly enough, there is never more than can be borne. Each individual is given sufficient strength for the day. Each task sent to teach something, and altogether they form a lesson that is difficult for one experience alone to teach. Self-discipline is a process of learning to use the strengths within to simply get past such difficulties and press on to the next, while taking the lesson along as a reminder. Each application of fire tempers the soul in its strength of character. Each act of self-mastery adds to the storehouse of a peaceful soul.

Putting off that which may seem distasteful or onerous only steals time from a productive life. Some tasks simply must be done, some lessons apprehended, before life can go on. Procrastination is the thief of time, according to Edward Young. Pearl S. Buck urged her readers to move forward, not to wait for the mood to strike, but to train the mind to know when it was time to get to work.

Self-mastery, self-discipline, call it what you wish: it is a life-long thing for me, always something to which I return, again and again. Most lessons I have learned somehow involve self-discipline. It seems to be at the core of a great deal of my experiences, and still it comes around, almost daily, reminding me of its necessity in my life. And, often, I continue to resist. What would it be like to give up my resistance to self-mastery?

Freedom awaits those who master themself, according to most religious doctrine. True liberation is the divine gift of submission to spiritual laws. Bahá'u'lláh taught, "Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty."

I am thankful for the gift of self-discipline in my life. It is the gardener of my soul. God, help me to surrender to the power and the peace of self-discipline.

I am ready to blossom, to grow, to be free, to manage my time efficiently, to persevere in the midst of adversity. Through self-mastery, I become ready to take on the impossible.

Michael - Friday's Inspiration, (Copyright 2002)

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