Mark the End…

There are times when people seem to have arrived at what they want – when the plans and purpose they have pursued seem to have been successful. But this we learn, sooner or later: that life is

not a single scene. It is a series of scenes. It is not a portrait or a static picture – it is a moving picture,

and not a matter of any single moment. And just when we think all the pieces are in place, something

may happen to change the pattern and the picture. To turn for a moment to history: Napoleon, in a

period of apparent success is said to have written a boasting letter concerning the solidness of his situation. But Lord Nelson, upon reading Napoleon’s letter, added a three-word postscript to it: “Mark

the end.” Mark the end – and the end of that episode came later when Napoleon’s fleet was defeated.

“We know what we are,” wrote Shakespeare, “but know not what we may be.” One successful scene doesn’t necessarily make a successful plot or a successful play. A play is composed of many parts and is not over until the final curtain – all of which suggests humility: humility among men, humility before God, for we none of us know when success will sour, when happiness will turn to sorrow, when health will turn to sickness, when affluence will be altered by accident or adversity. So changeable is life, so varied are the shifting scenes, that no matter who we are, or what we are or where we have arrived, we none of us know when we shall have need of other men – or need for help beyond the help of men. And

a smug sense of superiority, inconsideration of others, abusing power, abusing position, is very shortsighted – because the tides of all things turn, and before we can surely say someone is successful,

we should know how far and how consistently he can carry success. Before we smugly assume that we are self-sufficient, we would well remember Nelson’s postscript to the boasting words of Napoleon: “Mark the end.” “… he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. ” God help us to remember that life is not a matter of one scene, but an endless and eternal sequence of scenes.