Success and Abundant Life Have No Secret

“Patience and hard work are necessary for success”

During my high school years, I observed that our teacher’s favourite quotes were posted on the classroom walls. They were neatly printed on bond-paper sized coloured cardboards, wrapped with transparent plastic to lengthen its poster life.

“Patience and hard work are necessary for success” is one of these classroom quotes that have remained in my mind since reading it as a freshman.

I do not know where my teacher got that statement, but it stuck like a nail driven into my head. This saying keeps on flashing through my mind; it always seems to reverberate whenever I have difficult undertakings.

Perhaps, the statement made a lasting impact on me because I recalled that I was in a tough situation at that time. My parents got no stable job then.

My father was a pastor, but he can’t get a pastorate because denomination leaders blocked invitations to work in a church. He was tagged as inimical to the Convention Baptist institution when he fought for justice and righteousness.

To make ends meet, he sold floor wax. Later, he switched to selling powdered fruit juices around Roxas City and Mindanao to support his family.

To augment the food on our table, we cultivated and planted vegetables on a small patch of the vacant lot behind our house.

In several occasions, I would bring some vegetables, like camote tops, alogbati, malunggay, and tugabang to the nearby “talipapa” (wet market) and either sell it or barter it for fresh fish.

Many of life’s situations taught me what patience and hard work really mean. The very thing that keeps me toiling and persevering is the calm assurance that pursuing my passion with zealousness is already a success in itself. The rewards that would follow are the further rewards, the bonuses, and the blessings that patience and hard work bring.

The many successful work students that graduated from Central Philippine University (CPU) are legacies of patience and hard work.

One of them is Johnny Ancheta, who hails from San Andres, a coastal town in Tablas Island, Romblon, Philippines. He went to study Theology at CPU in 1950 as a working student.

He was about to quit school after two to three months for lack of financial support, but he begged the seminary dean for any work. Johnny did carpentry and janitorial work in exchange for tuition subsidy. Getting a chance to work and study in the US, Johnny and his wife, Nellie, became successful realtors in California.

Another work student who defied the odds is Rosanna Lim. She came from Northern Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines. She studied Hospitality Management at CPU in 2004 through a pre-need company scholarship but later became a working student when the pre-need company went bankrupt.

A year before coming to CPU, her mother died. With her bed-ridden father incapable of sending support and her pre-need company scholarship gone, Rosanna applied as work student at CPU.

To earn extra for her board and lodging, she took tutorial jobs. She graduated with honours despite the difficulties she faced.

She finished her on-the-job training ahead of time, working overtime to complete the required hours. Her diligence to find work resulted in her getting a full-time job as a customer service specialist at a call centre while still finishing her last three months in college. As of writing this article, she is now assistant manager of a Bank of the Philippine Islands branch.

I am sure that each of us has his/her own unique stories of patience and hard work that resulted in triumph. Sweet success is the fruit of the bitter seeds of patience and hard work.

Those who went through extreme difficulty in life could always look back with fond memories of the experiences that led them to tremendous achievements.

Showing great fortitude and diligence in every life’s endeavour will bring about the triumph that you want to have.

There is no limit to what a person can do when patience and hard work manifest in one’s family, career, and community. It has been proven that these two values attract success and abundant life.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Joven ‘Chong’ Baloyo