He had been waiting for over a year and had traveled for two days to be able to play a simple round of golf on the legendary elite golf course. It was the first hole and he was given the honor of being the first of his golfing buddies to tee off. He placed his luckiest ball squarely on the tee and planted the tee into the turf. He was sure he was going to hit his ball a country mile.
He uncoiled and swung with all his might. But, to his chagrin, he completely missed the ball. His buddies snickered somewhat silently to themselves. Gathering what pride he had left, he focused and stepped back up to the ball, positioned his body, and swung the club a second time. Yet a second time he missed the ball entirely.
As murmurs and then laughter came from those standing behind him, the red faced golfer slowly raised his head and exclaimed, “Boy, this course is tougher than I ever imagined!”
Isn’t life often like that? We blame the problem on the course ahead, when the problem really lies within us. Life leads us onto many different courses. Some we approach with all of the confidence in the world and some we step onto scared to death. It is just a part of life, of living day to day.
As we each venture along our different courses, events happen to each of us that are beyond our control. Events also happen to each of us that are within our control. We each handle events differently. We can let them defeat us or we can take control and rise above.
I call this “The Law of Rising Above.” Even though it isn’t printed in any legal book, it ought to be. We each have been given the ability to take control and rise above.
We can’t always control what life deals us. We can control our response.
What if each one of us told ourselves we were going to treat each person that we come into contact with in the manner that we would like to be treated? Wouldn’t we as individuals and a community “rise above?”
It is the Law of Rising Above. It’s an ability that each of us possesses. It’s an attitude that “I will do what is right regardless of a wrong that another does to me.” It’s the old childhood principle, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” It’s the Bible’s Golden Rule found at Luke 6:31 where it is written, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”
What I am communicating can best be summed up from a poster that I bought some time ago that is titled “Anyway.” It goes like this:
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got ANYWAY.
Our life is what our thoughts make it. If we as individuals, as husbands and wives, as mothers and fathers, as employers and employees, choose to rise above, to give our best anyway, we will exercise the unlimited power we each have to make a positive and constructive impact on our family, our community, those we work with, and on others whose lives we come into contact with each day.
My challenge to you is to take control of yourself and rise above. If someone dishes out trash to you, don’t lower yourself to their level. Choose to rise above those who are seeking to pull you down. Do the right thing regardless of what is done to you. Recognize that you can control how you respond to the hand that is dealt to you. You can control you. When you look in the mirror, you are looking at both the problem and the solution.
We need to do what we can, with what we have, where we are. Regardless of what the world thinks, we need to do right and give the world our best. It is not the difficulty of the golf course that we are on that is important, it is how we choose to play it. No matter what course our life takes us on, we must each choose to rise above.
Just a thought...
