The Fifth Vow Of Success

James 1:2-4 "My brothers, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial. Realize that when your faith is tested this makes for endurance. Let endurance come to its perfection so that you may be fully mature and lacking in nothing."

In Og Mandino's sequel to his best seller "The Greatest Salesman in the World" (15 million copies), "The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II", he does a wonderful job of revisiting his 10 success principles, all from a Biblical perspective. The Fifth Vow Of Success in Chapter 13 was particularly interesting to me. The following is just a small slice of Hafid's (Mandino's lead character) wisdom.

Always will I seek the seed of triumph in every adversity.

"There is no better school than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve my performance the next time. Never again will I contribute to my downfall by refusing to face the truth and learn from my past mistakes.

Experience is the most valuable extract of suffering and yet one of the terrible conditions of this life is that its wisdom cannot be transferred to another. All must attend their own school and for each the lessons are different. There is no other way. Adversity is always the first path to truth, however, and I am prepared to learn whatever I need to know in order to improve the condition of my life.

Adversity is with us from birth to burial. The gem cannot be polished without friction and I cannot be perfected without trials.

Whenever I am struck down, in the future, by any terrible defeat, I will always inquire of myself, after the first pain has passed, how I can turn that adversity into good. What a great opportunity that moment might present...to take the bitter root I am holding and transform it into a fragrant garden of flowers!"