What Is Success?

, WHAT IS SUCCESS? BY GEO. D. KIRBY. According to Ellen G. White, in her magnificent work, Christ's Object Lessons, success is "the outworking of God's providence, the reward of faith and discretion, of virtue and per- severing effort." And how true it is! Success comes to no man except as a reward for his efforts directed along the line of his ambition. There are some who claim that success is due to "luck," others that it is due to "genius," while still others, that a mathematical problem of "brains, plus character, plus hard work, equals success." They are all correct and merely prove the truth of the quotation above, for "luck" in the accepted sense, and gen- ius, are the results of God's providence, and no one will deny that the possession of brains, the ability to mould the character aright, and health to perform the hard work, are all "the working of God's providence." To every man has God given "according to his several abil- ity." All are not blessed with like talents, but all may gain suc- cess in the development of the powers which are within them. Some men are endowed with wonderful brain power to plan and carry out successfully immense projects which bring them glory, fame and wealth. Others are gifted with a noble personality by which they win the love and esteem of their fellowmen, and whose lives are models in the service of their maker. They per- haps have not the talent for acquiring much wealth, but their success is just as great, if indeed not greater. We read and hear of giants of strength, giants of intellect and giants in every field of action, but if we analyze their works we find that they are giants only in the fact that their faculties

WHAT IS SUCCESS? 587 have been developed along a certain line, never swerving from the course marked out, but continually putting their shoulders to the wheel and rolling it up the Hill of Success, inch by inch, step by step, until the goal is reached and their efforts are crowned with success. They are just ordinary individuals like ourselves, save that they so trained themselves, that they took advantage of every pos- sible moment of time they could and put it to good use, realizing that they were living in the present only, and that no art or de- vice could recover the golden gems of time, if once permitted to slip through their fingers. You look admiringly upon a strong young senator or congress- man, and you call him a brilliant man and a lucky one; but he is neither, in a way; in his present honorable position, he represents the realization of a tenacious purpose, the culmination of a well He worked while you waited, that is the only difference. laid plan. The man who waits too long gets left. Thousands of fortunes are forfeited every year through excessive caution. The prize goes to the dashing, go-ahead fellow who acts upon his ideas as soon as they mature, and before they get stale and out of date. Learn to recognize your chance on sight; and having recognized it, lose no time. There are almost as many kinds of success in this world as there are kinds of men. One great curse of human life is waste of energy. That means waste of time, and time is the only thing we really possess here. The man who is today doing this, and tomorrow doing that, and the next day something else, hasn't enough concentrated energy to succeed in any one thing of mo- ment. There are men who inherit money, there are men who stumble on gold mines, perhaps; there are thieves who steal other men's ideas and reap the benefit from them. But those are not men of "success." They are accidents without meaning. The man who reaches the pinnacle of success, climbs up there. If you study his life intelligently, you will find that every man at the top has had a hard climb. You will find that he has bruises, scratches, and deep lines to show for every foot of the climb. One reason why people do not more generally profit by the successful experiences of others, is <"hat they almost invariably look to the snow peaks among the world's mountains for men, and

. — . 588 IMPRO VEMENT ERA seeing no way to attain similar heights they become discouraged. Climb up the Hill of Success as far as you can get. Try your best; do your best. If you cannot get quite to the top yourself, praise the man who has gained a higher step than you, and if pos- sible give him a boost, which will raise him still higher. He may reach the top and reach down and pull you up beside him. "The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the talent and material God has given him This is success, and there is no other." Sugar City, Idaho. CALVARY. {For the Improvement Era.) Upon the cross I see him now. The crown around his brow. His outstretched arms nailed to the tree. Bleeding, dying thereon for me. I see the brutal soldiers tear The garments which our Lord did wear I see them mock him in their glee, On the lone, bleak hill of Calvary I view his virgin mother sweet, In anguish kneeling at his feet; 0, vestal maid! 'twas all for me Thy Son endured his agony. I see the blood flow down the tree Dear Lord, thy blood was shed for me; 0, wondrous love ! that you should die For such a one so vile as L H. N. Adamson. Salt Lake City, Utah.