The Power of Please Mark Batterson
In 1964 , Sidney Poitier became the first Black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor . Not only did Poitier redefine roles for Black and African American actors and actresses by rejecting racial stereotypes ; he did so with a smile . “ He . . . opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years ,” said Denzel Washington . 1 Sidney Poitier used his influence to open doors , but what opened doors for Sir Sidney ? Yes , he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 . But long before that , Poitier ’ s mother taught him to always say please and thank you . He took that instruction to heart and later said , “ It was remarkable how many times thank you and please opened doors for me .”
For every success story , there is a backstory . “ If you succeed without suffering , someone else did ,” said Joel Schmidgall . “ If you suffer without succeeding , someone else will .” The genealogy of success includes people the world will never know about , but you wouldn ’ t be who you are without them . Their sacrifices set up your success .
King David didn ’ t assume the throne without his 37 mighty men . The apostle Paul didn ’ t complete three missionary journeys without the 29 friends who got honorable mentions in Romans 16 — a first-century shout-out . Even Jesus didn ’ t do what He did without His twelve disciples or the group of women who formed a hedge fund to support Him financially .
Author and pastor Eugene Peterson had three pictures that hung on the wall in his study . The first was John Henry Newman , who inspired his philosophy of ministry . The second was Baron Friedrich von Hügel , who influenced his love of language . The third was a Scottish preacher , Alexander Whyte . Every
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