Love power is success power. There is no greater impetus toward true success than that provided by love, rightly understood and applied.
The whole idea of success is conveyed in the concept of attaining one’s desired ends. If a person does not consider himself successful, it doesn’t matter how many people envy his position, wealth and prominence. On the other hand, even though no one else recognizes his achievements as particularly important, if he, within himself, has a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, then he is successful.
But while the concepts of success are different, the road to success is marked with the same guidelines and legal restrictions. As in all areas of life, there are certain basic principles which apply. And the laws of love apply to every aim and ambition, no matter how small or how great.
Love power is success power.
“An Understanding Heart”
Some people employ the laws of love for personal gain, and, up to a point, they are successful. One who loves the idea of reaching a certain position of power may work night and day to get there, and love himself right into the job. But there is a greater concept of love than this. There is a greater expression of true success. Consider the laws of love as applied to service.
Love’s law of service is this:
When love concentrates on service and trusts the law to provide its own reward, success and prosperity follow.
The old saying, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door,” is very true. The better mousetrap provides a service that is needed, and the one who fills the need will be amply rewarded, particularly if he does it in love and trusts Universal Providence to take care of the return.
Love gives first, under the direction of the same small voice within that guides you in healing or maintaining health. This inner director, the teacher that increases your understanding as you use what you know, will also lead you down the road to success. It will show you how to give, how to serve, how to provide what the world needs. And when you do, the rest of the law works to bring you the return of material resources, recognition and an inner sense of joy in accomplishment.
The greatest reward is the joy of accomplishment. This is the very spirit of success and leads to other worthwhile undertakings in the future.
Probably there was no more successful person in his day than King Solomon, who inherited the kingdom of Israel from his father, David.
The story is told that when Solomon became king, he dreamed a dream, in which God appeared and said, “Ask what I shall give thee” (I Kings 3:5 KJV). Solomon already had considerable wealth, position and power, but he might have asked for more. He could have asked for long life or for a particular personal request to be granted.
Instead, he asked for an understanding heart, because it was his desire to serve the best interest of the people, to rule with love and wisdom. Because he obeyed love’s law of service, he was rewarded with riches and honor as well as the understanding heart he had requested.
And so it is. Love carries its own reward, and that reward is sure, when one works with the desire to bless and enrich the lives of others. This applies to any area of service, from the challenge of ruling wisely and lovingly to the serving of a meal with love and understanding.
It can apply in any profession, or simply in everyday human relationships.
A successful real estate salesman told me how he thought about his work. He said, “I never think of trying to force a sale, but of bringing people together who need each other, one who has something which is no longer useful to him and another party who needs what the first man has, because he can use it.”
Shortly after he told me this, he won a trip to Florida for being top man in sales for the month.
A successful drug store always advertised the regular products and services, plus “the invisible ingredient.” One day a woman whose curiosity had been aroused by the phrase asked the manager what it meant. He replied that it was love, a little extra caring about the customer, which was the policy of the store.
Love Story of a Restaurant
A number of years ago my husband and I were traveling a superhighway through Missouri at lunchtime. For several miles we had seen signs advertising Pete’s Cafe at Rocheport, and so we decided to stop there to eat. The name, Pete’s Cafe, had not prepared us for what we found when we entered the restaurant.
We walked through the door of a lovely modern building to be almost overwhelmed by a tremendous mural that covered most of the back wall. It was a copy of Leonardo DaVinci’s “Last Supper,” done with love and care and measuring 14 feet 5 inches by 28 feet 9 inches. It dominated the dining room in a beautiful and unusual way.
Even more beautiful and unusual was the story of Pete’s Cafe—as the owner said, a love story.
The menu introduced all patrons to a love story of which no one was ashamed, a love story which had built a busy, prosperous business.
The bill of fare offered a variety of mouth-watering suggestions, from Ozark Catfish, Rainbow Mountain Trout and Boone County Ham to “America’s Finest Coffee, Still Only 54.” At the bottom of the page, the owner declared, “We maintain the right to serve God and our Fellow Man,” and on the back page there was a table blessing.
But in the middle of the menu was the piece de resistance, the story of the business. It began, “This is our story. It might be called a love story—in its truest sense — for it centers around one man: Pete Christus, and the love God had for him.”
It told the story of the owner’s father, who had come to America from Greece when he was 17. He arrived in Boonville, Missouri, homeless, friendless and unable to speak the language, but he knew the language of love. After returning from service in the United States Forces during World War I, he opened a small candy store in Boonville. When he recognized a need, he began serving plate lunches, and that was the start of Pete’s Cafe.
The son spoke of his father with great love, and he took pride in carrying on his father’s work.
On the menu, he said, “It was my great fortune to grow up in the business with my father and learn what I could of his way. It now is my privilege to serve you, and in this, too, ours is a love story, for all of us here love serving you. We shall do all that we can to make your stop with us a pleasant one.”
The service and the food were in keeping with the policy. On our return trip, my husband and I made it a point to be near Pete’s Cafe at lunchtime. And we were not the only ones, you may be sure.
Love power is success power —for a business or for a person.
Love eliminates competition, by creating its own success!
A New View of Competition
Love doesn’t ever feel the necessity of competing with others, anyway. It goes its way with service and kindness and attracts its own prosperity and success. If there is competition at all, it is with one’s previous record, to improve on it and grow into something bigger and better.
A teenager in Kansas City was making a name for herself as a horsewoman. Blue ribbons and trophies from various horse shows made an impressive array in the family’s living room.
One day someone asked her, “What do you think about when you are mounted and ready, waiting to ride into the ring? Do you pray that you will win?”
She smiled and said, “No, I pray that my horse will do his best.”
She went on to explain that she always tried to do her best, and if she and the horse gave the best they were capable of giving, then she was satisfied, whether or not they won. But she did win, without really thinking in terms of trying to beat the other riders or fighting against them individually.
Love wins by loving to give and by giving its best, not by trying to defeat others.
In its original derivation, the word “competition” comes from the Latin words meaning “to seek together” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, p. 153). At its highest level competition is not a matter of working against other persons, but of seeking together for greater excellence on the part of the individual.
In order to excel, to stand out in the crowd, to win, you don’t have to compete with other persons on the level of rivalry. All that is required is that you do your best. Love makes it easy for you to enjoy giving your best to any undertaking, and to do it without any sense of fighting or resistance.
In its true meaning, competition, whether in business, sports or scholastic undertakings, should not be a matter of resisting the efforts of others, but rather of developing your own abilities and attributes. When you do, whether or not you win the blue ribbon, or the business account, you have acquired something of value. If you have improved on your own previous accomplishments, you have fulfilled the law of love, and success is bound to come to you in one way or another. Love’s law of competition is this:
When you concentrate on improving your own accomplishments without thought of rivalry, you will attract your own rewards of success.
Broader Horizons
Love will even help you to dissolve some wrong concepts that may have led to competitive thoughts about others in the past.
For instance, why do business people consider others their rivals?
They look at others with concern because they are fearful, believing that another firm or person can deprive them of some good. They think that there is only so much business, or so much cash in circulation. They surround themselves with thoughts of limitation, and these thoughts draw a tight circle in which they live, always confined and always a little short of what they need or want.
Some people in business even go so far as to feel that they must vanquish all rivals in order to survive. They talk a “dog eat dog” philosophy, and they live by that philosophy. Many times, they are completely stripped of their resources in the long run by that very philosophy.
Love broadens horizons, even in business. Love ignores the time-worn adages that insist on vanquishing all competitors in order to survive. Love uses God-given ideas to improve its own goods, services and qualities. And love succeeds on its own merits.
What of competition in sports events?
No one ever won a race while looking backward. Many have lost when they glanced behind to see what others were doing.
If you are willing to concentrate on doing your very best, your percentage of victories will constantly increase. And even more important than blue ribbons or trophies will be the sense of inner victory and accomplishment that you feel. When you let love take over and just do your best, you will never have to watch to see what the other person is doing. One way or another, you will be successful.
The same principle holds true in any phase of living.
Some people compete with others for social recognition. In the long run they defeat their own purposes, as the tensions of constant rivalry take their toll in looks and disposition. Love does not try to fight against others. It attracts its own by being its very best self. And what it attracts is real and lasting.
In any area of living, if you try to compete, in the sense of opposing and contending with other persons, you will never reach your own goal. You will move forward much more rapidly if you refuse to waste time and effort looking to see what someone else is doing, and then pacing your effort to his.
Within you are wonderful capacities. Develop them under God’s direction. Listen to love’s little voice within you and heed its guidance. When you do, there is no sense of rivalry, because you leave the other fellow free to do the same.
Compete if you like, but do it in the original sense of the word, seeking together for individual excellence. Then you’ll succeed in the right and perfect way. And that’s what you want after all, isn’t it?
Love’s greatest rewards come many times in inner joy and fulfillment.
There are rewards, too, in gaining a more relaxed attitude toward life and living. This contributes to health, a sense of general well being and a greater ability to love.
The Tension Factor in Success
The more you love, the more relaxed you are in your attitude toward yourself, your world and other persons. A tense, resistant attitude always indicates a lack of love, but a serene, happy outlook on life indicates the presence of love.
A few years ago, people in the medical profession held a theory that job success caused heart attacks. There was the feeling that the more successful a person became, the more likely he was to have a heart attack.
That theory has been changed. It is not success that puts excessive strain on the heart. The doctors now point out that the most frequent cause of heart attacks among executives is stress, or worry and frustration, coupled with too little exercise and what they refer to as “work addiction” or “pathological busyness.” In other words, the most frequent cause of heart attacks is too little love.
Many times people allow their work to obsess their minds. They work with great tension and strain, keeping a wary eye out for competitors for their job or their business. They build up tensions so strong that something has to give. It may be some physical part of the body that gives first, or it may be the business itself that collapses. Where there is tension, something has to break.
Physicians who diagnose a case of “work addiction” or “pathological busyness” frequently prescribe, as an antidote, periods of recreation, when there is a complete change of pace and a change of mind. In other words, they suggest something to break the tension.
Love will accomplish the same result. Love will get rid of the anxiety build-up. It will dissolve the energysucking demands of frustration, worry, and fear.
Love does it easily, without shock or repercussions. It does it just by loving, and thus dissolving the stress and the strain.
No one has to come near to the point of physical collapse before discovering the secret of breaking the tension. Any person can learn to live a happier, healthier, more successful life right where he is, by making up his mind to pace his life with love.
True success never hurt anyone, but man-made success, pushed and forced, takes a heavy toll when the individual becomes tense and burdened, over-anxious about himself and his work, worried and frustrated because of his responsibilities, so addicted to busyness that he carries his work with him wherever he goes, even to bed at night.
Some people, told by a doctor to inject some recreation into their lives, even work as hard at play as they do at their job, and thus defeat the purpose of the change of pace.
Life requires a balance in activities, and love helps to establish it. There should be work, satisfying and rewarding, leading to an inner sense of success in living. There should also be an opportunity for rest, a mental and physical release from all demands of the day. And there must be recreation, a change of mind and pace in the form of social activities, enjoyable hobbies or other types of play.
There should be happy human relationships. And a well-rounded life will include a recognizable form of faith in God and time devoted to spiritual growth.
All of these facets are part of the life of a happy, well-adjusted, truly successful person. And love will help to establish the right and perfect balance. Love will establish the order in mind, body and affairs that is so necessary to true achievement.
This is the principle of accomplishment:
When you love enough to work relaxed, you accomplish more in the long run.
It works in business, in play, in study and in social contacts with others. Love works best through one who is relaxed and receptive to its help.
Make It Fun!
Alfred Carlton Gilbert overcame physical difficulties as a child to become an outstanding all-round athlete at Yale and also an Olympic champion. He was a top scholar and an expert in other fields.
He then went on to become a millionaire through an idea he obtained while acting as a sidewalk superintendent. As he watched buildings rise, he thought what fun it would be to construct a building on a small scale. So he originated Erector sets for children, and other toys and gadgets.
This man had a philosophy of life that is well worth copying. He said, “I’ve never worked at anything that wasn’t fun. If I had my life to live over, I don’t think I’d change it —except maybe to take up mountain climbing.”
This is the secret of successful living, a “fun” approach, enjoyment of everything you do, even those tasks which don’t particularly appeal to you at first glance.
The manufacturer converted serious business, the construction of steel buildings, into play for children, because he was able to see the fun in it. The inner rewards must have been tremendous, as he enjoyed seeing children enjoy his idea, and he also became wealthy in material ways.
When you can make your work a source of enjoyment for yourself and others, when you can work relaxed, then you may be sure that you will be successful. You will accomplish much more than others who work from tension and fear. And you will reap the material rewards, along with the inner sense of satisfaction with a job joyously accomplished.
When you try, you can even turn washing windows or some other routine job into fun. Make it play, and you may come up with new ideas for accomplishing even the mundane job with new enthusiasm. Trying new methods carries its own thrill of accomplishment. It may lead to new products and new discoveries that will be a boon to mankind—and to you, too.
Life is not to be lived in a heavy-handed way, but to be enjoyed to the fullest. This isn’t idle pleasure-seeking, but the enjoyment of useful activity and the accomplishment that comes with it.
Love doesn’t take anything away from life. It enriches everything you do with new joy and enthusiasm and satisfaction. It makes life fun! And it also brings the rewards of true success, the inner feeling of fulfillment and the material dividends as well.
© 1986, Winifred Wilkinson Hausmann
All rights reserved by the author.
Reprinted with permission.
