‘Tis the Set of the Sail
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
But to every mind there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.
One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.
Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
‘Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
It’s not the wind or the waves or the circumstances that determines how you sail; it is how you show up to the wind, the waves or the circumstances. The only thing you must take responsibility for are your own choices and actions. No matter what the circumstances dictate, you have the power to choose how you will react or respond to those circumstances.
