Motivation to Succeed!

Below is an email my mother shared with me.

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?

Everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be an evil. So we are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good fortune and what misfortune, and thank him that all things turn out for good with those who love him.

By Anthony de Mello - Sadhana

Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. - Henry Ford

Why do we feel we need to direct everything, judge everything, make all the decisions, and evaluate every consequence to insure the "proper" outcome? Why can't we realize that we don't have the perspective, the overall view, the wisdom to really know whether a consequence is good or bad? We can't know what God knows. We can't determine what is really best, but God can.

Isn't it time that we understood the truth and let God have control over our life?
When we pray doesn't it make more sense to tell God of our concerns, let Him hear our prayers of praise and our confessions, and then pray as Christ taught us---"Father, not my will but thine."