Presidents

Several of my acquaintances of late have criticized my ambition and goal for wanting to make Horizon Software the number one food service technology company in the WORLD. They have repeatedly warned me not to let the company get too big and have urged me to keep it small. “It is the only smart way to go. Why work so hard? Can’t you be satisfied?
How much money do you need?”, are some of the comments. It is reminiscent to me of the time when we had experienced theft of a grand scale in my former company. Things looked hopeless and if survival was to occur, it would take YEARS of hard work to repair the damage. My accountant urged me to just take bankruptcy and give up on my dream of owning and managing my own company and urged me to go to work for
someone else. “Why fight it? Why work so hard? You can get a good
job with practically anyone and not have to work nearly this hard”, he said. I did not take bankruptcy and struggled through the years of hard times. I rebuilt the company to its former state and eventually sold it at a profit. I’m glad I did.

I really like two quotes from a couple of past Presidents of the United States, (who had good character), that often serve to help motivate me during times of stress, or when listening to nay Sayers. Abraham Lincoln said: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Theodore Roosevelt wrote: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails at least fails while doing greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

They said it far more eloquently than me. This isn’t about making more money, it is about getting into the arena, competing and achieving a lofty goal. It is about reaching for something that ordinary people will never achieve because too often they listen to the nay Sayers and/or are too afraid to reach for the moon. Life ain’t no dress rehearsal. We only have this little 70-80 year stretch to achieve whatever we can achieve, then it is too late. It will pass quickly. I say that we should live each day to its fullest, try to achieve the greatest possible things that God has given us the ability to achieve, and when we are old and feeble and look back on our lives, we can do so without wondering whether or not we could have done it, if only we would have tried. When you are tired and discouraged and wonder if it is “all worth it” remember the quotes above, it helps me.

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James 4:14
… For what is
your life? It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then
vanishes away.


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