Never say that you wish your situation were different! Never wish you
had some other person's life or troubles or worries.
Accept your own as a _working basis_, the best for you.
Then go ahead and _change whatever_ displeases you.
Remember you are the maker and moulder of your own destiny. You do not
recall the fact, but you brought about the present conditions of your
destiny in former incarnations.
Even if you do not believe this, you must acknowledge that _you are
here_, and that the situation in which you find yourself seems to be
inevitable for the present.
But it is not inevitable for the future, unless you lie down in the
furrow and whine, and wish you were a millionaire, or a genius, and
rail at the partiality of Providence.
There is no partiality in the Universe.
The whole scheme is well balanced. If you were allowed to change lots
with anyone on the face of the earth, you would complain and find fault
in a short time.
One of our best known millionaires, born to opulence, complains that he
has been robbed of the privilege of making his own fortune.
He is no happier than you. His confession betrays his weakness of
character just as your repining and fault-finding betrays yours.
The real worth-while character thanks God for its destiny and says, "I
will show the world what I can do with my life."
Not long ago there was a great trotting-race at Brighton Beach. The
blind conqueror "Rythmic" won five consecutive races.
Think of it! He did not, like a mortal man, shrink back and say "I am
blind--that is a terrible destiny--I am cursed of God--I will not try
to win the race." He just trusted the hand of the _Master at the
reins_, did his best, and won the honors of the season.
We are all blind racers on the track of earth. The king, the
millionaire, the statesman, the lawmaker, the beggar, the laborer, the
cripple, we are all in the dark. The only thing is to trust the hand
of the Master, and _do our best_.
Believe your position is the right starting point for _you_, merely the
starting point.
It is the shapeless block of stone from which you are to fashion the
perfect statue.
Or it is the mere mud from which you are to mould the clay image, and
later that is to be put into enduring marble.
What is uglier or more unattractive than mud?
Yet think of the glorious conceptions which it imprisons.
Take the mud of your present environment and thank God for it, and make
the image of the future you desire.
You can do it--you must do it--you will do it.