Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading

Our Calendar Books by Allen James' posting for July 10th is a quote from Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955 and whose personal successes included aiding in the defeat of the Nazi's to end World War II.

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." (Churchhill).

How interesting many of our "greats" made statements which upon first glace appear "oxymoronish"...."success" and "failure" certainly are polars...yet Churchill's statement, when looked at in context, makes complete sense.

Winston Churchill can say this with some authority. After all he was a washed up ex-British Prime Minister after the Second World War.  Although he led Britain, and in some ways the world, through an extremely turbulent time, he eventually lost his position as Prime Minister. But did he fade away? No. Despite the fact that he failed to retain his position, and everyone thought his career was clearly in it’s dying days, he managed to make a comeback and regain his position. He must have found it difficult. He must have felt humiliated after his defeat. Part of him must have wanted to just give up and move on. But another part of him wanted to have another shot at it. And that was the part that he listened to.

When faced with a challenge, which voice do we listen to, the one telling us to give up because it is too difficult and we’ll never make it, or the one telling us to carry on because we just might succeed?

Churchill failed, and yet he came back. He didn’t fade away. He didn’t give up.

"...let us run with determination the race which lies before us" (Hebrews 12: 1-2, KJV).

Keep looking up.  : )   AJ