Do you remember the saying, “When the going gets tough the tough get going?” Or, how about, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”  I think this one is my favorite, “Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise.  Dream more than others think is practical.  Expect more than others think is possible.”

These are all fairly famous quotes on desire and determination to win.  The spirit of America is the spirit of winning.  Maybe Patton said it best to his troops in the movie that bears his name.  “Americans love a winner.  Americans will not tolerate a loser.  Americans despise cowards.  Americans play to win all the time. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.”

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When I was a little boy I would often go outside on Christmas Eve and look for the Christmas star.  I had heard the story of the wise men since I was old enough to remember Christmas.  I even played a wise man in the third grade Christmas play at church but I never really understood who they were or why they would have looked for the star in the first place.

Ask most Texans the meaning of the word potential and they will say, “It means you ain’t done nothing yet.”  It may not be eloquent but what it lacks in eloquence it makes up for in accuracy.  Merriam-Webster may have said it better defining potential as, “existing in possibility or capable of development into actuality,” but the meaning is the same.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity....” The opening lines of Charles Dickens classic, A Tale of Two Cities, serve as a reminder of the social parallels that existed between France and London in the years leading up to the French Revolution.  Dickens original work was not published as a complete novel but was revealed through weekly installments in the Dickens’ literary periodical All the Year Round.  Readers who were hooked by the story line had to patiently wait as the drama of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton unfolded from week to week.