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More Important Than A Sale!
By mstrohm | August 6, 2007
My daughter Abby has been selling books on Amazon and every once and a while I grab a book and start reading it. Recently I have been reading a small book that sold several million copies back in the 1970’s called The Greatest Salesman In The World by OG Mandino. The following quote comes from the book:
I will persist until I succeed.
I will never consider defeat and I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, and retreat; for they are the words of fools. I will avoid despair but if this disease of the mind should infect me then I will work on in despair. I will toil and I will endure. I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows.
I will persist until I succeed.
As I read that passage I could not help but think how these words should be true of a parent! A salesman may or may not make his sale. But a parent DOES have to succeed in the all important job of parenting.
Here is another quote that reminded me of the endless job of teaching our children right from wrong:
Henceforth, I will consider each day’s effort as but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak. The first blow may cause not a tremor in the wood, nor the second, nor the third. Each blow, of itself, may be trifling, and seem of no consequence. Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tumble. So it will be with my efforts of today.
Sometimes we teach and teach and just as the words leave our mouth our children are fighting! Do not despair. Like the mighty oak that falls after countless blows, so our children will eventually “hear” the lessons that for now seem to fall on deaf ears. Keep striking at the oak.
Your job is far too important to give up. If a salesman can hang in there, how much more important for you as parent to keep up the good work and fight the good fight?
In the words of Winston Churchill “Never give up, never, never give up.”
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Mark and Ellen Strohm
Topics: From Ellen, From Mark | 1 Comment »
August 7th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Amen!!! From one who has been there!
Love,
Bob