Daring…

I found this great quote in my notebook. It was from a speech that came from Theodore Roosevelt. I found it compelling and so encouraging. I’d like to share it with you. While reading it, pay attention and ask what it can mean in your life…

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. 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, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

What he says is so true. It’s not the critic that really gets the credit for a life well spent. The real winner is the one who never gives up. Who strives and lives a life worth living. Who chooses to take risks, even in the face of defeat doesn’t give in. So that even if his endeavor doesn’t always go in the way that it should, at least he has tried…and that is what gives him character and strength.

I don’t want to be a quitter or a couch potato. Either way that is not a life worth living. To live a life of purpose…God’s purpose for me, that’s all I want. Even in the face of adversity I will persevere. To get to the throne and hear Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant”! I don’t want to give up. I want the great devotions and enthusiasms…the constant striving for His kingdom!

Here’s to daring greatly…!!