Sage Advice From 100 Summers Ago

"CHALLENGES"

"A difficulty raiseth the spirit of a great man. He hath the mind

to wrestle with it and give it a fall. A man's mind must be very low if

the difficulty doth not make part of his pleasure."

By the test of these words of Lord Halifax, there are a number

of great persons in the world today.

 Spencer West, a 31 year old Canadian man who lost his legs as a child, 

 gives a victory salute upon reaching the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2012.

After all, what is a difficulty but a direct challenge? 

"Here I am in your way," it says, "you cannot get around me or

overcome me!   I have blocked your path!"

Anyone of spirit will accept the challenge and find some way to

get around or over or through that obstacle. Yes! And find pleasure in

the difficulty for the sheer joy of surmounting it, as well as because there

has been an opportunity once more to prove one's strengths and cunning and,

by the very use of these qualities, cause an increase of them.

The overcoming of one difficulty makes easier the conquering of the

next until finally we are almost invincible. Success actually becomes a habit

through the determined overcoming of obstacles as we meet them one by one.

If we are not being successful, if we are more or less on the road toward failure,

a small change in our fortunes can be brought by making a start, however,

success by beginning with some project and putting it through to a successful

conclusion, however long and hard we must fight to do so, by "wrestling with"

one difficulty and "giving it a fall". The next time it will be easier.

For some reason, of course, according to some universal law, we gather

momentum as we proceed in whatever way we go; and just as by overcoming 

a small difficulty, we are more able to conquer the next, though greater;

so if we allow ourselves to fail, it is easier to fail the next time, and failure

becomes a habit until we are unable to look a difficulty fairly in the face,

but turn and run from it. There is no elation equal to the rise of the spirit to meet

 and overcome a difficulty, not with a foolish overconfidence but by keeping things 

 in their proper relations by praying, now and then, the prayer of the good fighter

whom I used to know: "Lord make me sufficient to mine own occasion."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

(1918)

"Challenges"

(August 1918)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

(1867-1957)

Prolific American writer

From the book, "Little House In The Ozarks"

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler

The Rediscovered Writings

Edited by Stephen W. HInes

Guideposts Edition

(1991)