This quote has languished in one of my quote files — yes, I have more than one — for months. I read it over and over. I liked it every time I read it. Truth is, I like a lot of Mark Twain quotes. He’s one of my go-to quote guys.
But when I read it yesterday, it “pinged” and I knew it was time to dust it off and publish it in a blog.
“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.”
Obviously, the illustrious Mr. Twain is exaggerating on two points. He can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life … and he can’t find anybody who knows what they want. Twain’s pretty proud of his own talents, and in the same turn, he’s not impressed with other people.
It’s not easy figuring out what you want out of life. As children, we’re asked all the time, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” — as if we’re supposed to know the answer to that question when we’re 4 or 5 or even 10 years old. TRUTH: I assured my kiddos when they graduated from high school that they didn’t have to know what they wanted to be when they grew up. They still had time to figure that out. And their friends who supposedly knew? They’d most likely change their minds — and their majors — at least once before they graduated from college.
Sometimes we think we know what we want out of life, only to discover we were wrong. Misguided. Mistaken. Or getting what we wanted left us empty or searching for more. Maybe some modern day Mark Twain came along and taught us how to get it — but we weren’t being true to ourselves, to our heart. We were conforming ourselves to someone else’s idea of who were supposed to be, what we were supposed to want out of life.
It’s okay to want things out of life. Don’t rush it. Some of us don’t realize what we really want — who we really are — until later in life. And that’s okay. There’s no expiration date on dreams coming true.
In Your Words: How do you figure out what you want out of life? Who’s helped you discover what you want out of life?
[ctt template=”8″ link=”6V0bz” via=”yes” ]In Others’ Words: Getting What You Want https://ctt.ec/6V0bz+ #InOthersWords #quotes #MarkTwain @bethvogt[/ctt] [ctt template=”8″ link=”bT83a” via=”yes” ]”I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life … ” https://ctt.ec/bT83a+ #MarkTwain #perspective #lifequote @bethvogt[/ctt]
Comments 9
It took a long and exceedingly violent life for me to realize that all I want out of life is to reflect Christ’s love.
And sometimes, that requires violence. Here am I; send ME.
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Andrew,
Yes, sometimes it takes a long time to realize what we want. And sometimes we have to overcome much — violence, disappointment, discouragement, doubt, heartbreak — before we discover the joy of knowing the truths of who God is and who we are.
It hurts, but it’s been worth the trip.
Beth, thanks for sharing the quote. I think many of us know what we want but struggle with the feeling that it”s just out of reach and always will be. It’s easy to fall into the habit of pushing aside our dreams, it’s not so easy to push past what holds us back to accomplish them. One thing I know – that I can be a success in God’s eyes even if not in my own – or in others’. You have been an encouragement to me. I pray you will always find joy in your journey.
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Jan: Thank you for joining the conversation today, my friend! There’s so much wisdom in your comment. It’s true that it’s so easy to push aside our dreams. And sometimes our dreams have to be set aside for a season because of life demands or illness or because God says, “Wait.” I love your wise words: “I can be a success in God’s eyes even if not in my own – or in others’.”
I had a great experience a week ago when the personable long-time pastor of a church I’ve been visiting in Mississippi asked if he could visit. At the end of a very congenial time, he asked what he could pray for me. My older son had developed a newly troubling heart issue that was going to require 30 days of blood thinner and then hospital-administered paddles to stabilize his heart’s rhythm. It didn’t take me long to single out that situation as my request. To my joy my son felt his heart stabilize the next morning before he visited his doctor. Wow. I’ve singled out two more requests I’m going to pass on to that pastor before I return up north and am more than willing to pay for his requests, too. Clearly there is great power in singling out what we do want so we can focus and God can show us how, or help us, to get there.
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Yes, Dee. I love the phrase a “singling out” what we want and how it showcases the need for focus.
Discovering what we want is as hard as getting it. Sometimes what we don’t get ends up being what we want. 🙂
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So true, Pat. So true.