A Purpose in Life

A Purpose in Life BY O. W. MCONKIE The man without an ambition directed by a noble sentiment is the man who can sit idly and contentedly watching the stream of life pass him by. He is the man who is occupying space but is of no more real worth to the community than an Egyptian mummy. Such insular ideas, ideals, and characters as thousands upon thousands of the young people in this our own dear country do possess, such foolish and ridiculous goals, are attained as a result of continued travel along that antique trail — Drift. If I would lead and direct men aright I must live a noble life. Every act registers its meaning. Every word makes its impression. Every move has its effect. Do you desire a dress-suit? Pay for it, and it is yours. Do you desire heart and brain power? Pay for them, and you are king. Do you desire to be honest and true ? Make yourself so by acts of nobility. Covet not your brother's failings, but despise not him. Make injustice and impurity your foe. Remember always that the stain of crime's footprints is hard to erase. Tears and blood are required to wash such stain away. Bear in mind that "our world is a college, events are teachers, happiness is the graduating point, character is the diploma God gives man." The man who has a strong purpose, supported by a "stiff upper lip," will meet life's battles as truth meets falsehood ; as sunbeams meet the earth ; and they will bow before him as the weed to the scythe ; as darkness to light. To have no set aim is to be as trash in the street, wafted and kicked about by all who pass. He is carried about by each gust of wind until he finally alights in the gutter or slough. Here he lies dormant. He has no strength to lift himself up. Here he dies a temporal death. He had died mentally and spiritually long since. Think, plan, act. Let your ambition lead you on. "Shoot at the sun and you may hit a star." Stretch forth your imagination

A PURPOSE IN LIFE 815 and let noble dreams lead, guide and inspire you. Work while you dream. Conquer by persistence. "Do not pray for easy lives ; Pray to be strong men." Strong desire, ambition and heavenly inspiration will master. The despondent will be comforted, and while it may be possible that, "this miry slough is such place as cannot be mended," yet its power over us can be materially decreased. Should we care to save our feet from such ground, it is within our power. We may cast up highways. We may cultivate a hedge around us. We may spew out our filth. The man devoid of purpose is like unto a stream without an outlet. He runs his course, sinks into the ground and is forgotten as soon as the soil above him is crusted. He is like unto a snowman, ready to freeze into ice or melt and disappear, just as the climatic conditions may chance to be. He is afraid to grapple with life's obstacles. He goes not the way of honesty, but is desirous of stealing through the gate of chance. At sight of the hill Difficulty, he faints. He has acquired some little pleasing manner and considerable hypocrisy. His armor is not bright, for it is not worth oiling. He trembles at thought of death, since he has done nothing to make the world happy. He examines not where he treads, for little does he care as long as his waist band is tight. "Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering." He would willingly "sell his soul for a mess of pottage." To the man of worth, a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand. The very fact that he has an opportunity of catching the one in the bush offers development. When work and ingenuity are required, strength is acquired. The birds in the hand may be the result of one's decay ; the one in the bush, the means of his exaltation. The Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself. Just so with us ; we gain strength from resisted temptation. Subdued temptations contribute to our character-building. That which was intended to be painful and vital, if properly met, terminates into blessings. The key to success hangs within the reach of all. True, we must reach for it. Difficulties will present themselves and must be met. That, however, is not so serious as would seem when we

816 IMPROVEMENT ERA consider that most of our difficulties, obstacles and troubles exist in the mind only, and that had we not given them nourishment they would have died long since. With the touch of perseverance in the hand, any gulf of disappointment or seeming failure may be successfully crossed. Only for the feeble and weak who have not a strong and holy purpose is the dismal swamp of failure deepened. How can we who are created in the image of God drift along without a care? A mirage of such is enough to sicken the heart. If we had been created to simply float down the stream of life we would have been created dead. Dead fish can float down stream, but it takes live ones to breast the current. If you have no purpose the day is in sight when the deadly odor from your carcass will pest men. You must die. You may exist but you can't live. Naturally, purposes vary according to intelligences. There are, however, a few things that every one can do. Each can climb daily, hourly. Each can cause something to be done that no one else could do. Each can have love and honor in the heart and make the world better and brighter, and then what mattereth it as to one's body? With Job we will cry: "Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." MOAB, UTAH. ** %'~l ------ Mm -