We’re all familiar with the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The hare boasted that he could easily beat the plodding tortoise in a race. After jumping out to a comfortable lead, the hare took a nap midway through the contest. When he awoke, he found that the slow and steady tortoise beat him to the finish line.
We see this simple story played out in the race of life. Some shoot out the gate, hard-driving and fast-moving down the life course. Others are late bloomers and don’t find their way right off. Most of us are somewhere in between. We steadily move forward with faith and hope, with the courage to believe that things will work out in the end.
Somewhere along the way, we learn that life is not a competition. We don’t need to beat anybody else; we’re content as long as we surpass our own best efforts, continuing to learn and grow and progress. We know we must endure to the end, but that is not a burden that weighs us down and takes the joy out of life. Instead, enduring gives purpose and meaning to our most mundane tasks.
For 74 years, ever since she was a teenager, a woman in a small town has been keeping the country store. Now she is 92 years young and still helping people. Her eyesight dimming, she has to get close to the cash register to ring up a sale, but customers keep coming. And she keeps getting out of bed and going to work. She may use a walker now, but she’s grateful she can still walk. Of her perseverance, she simply says, “I keep going.”¹
Success in life is not just for the strongest or the fastest. It’s for those who stay with it, keep doing their best, and steadily move toward their goals.
Program #4053
¹See Suzanne Dean, “Utahn Keeps Store Going—for 74 Years,” Deseret Morning News, Apr. 2, 2007, A1, A3.