Read Hebrews 12:2

Almost every week I come into contact with people who have been misled, thinking that success depends solely upon talent or brilliance or education.

But the list doesn't end there. For some it's getting the breaks, pulling the right strings, having the right personality, being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, playing their cards right.

You see, it is our natural tendency to focus on the external, to be overly impressed with that which is seen. Wouldn't it be wonderful to develop the ability to look at a heart? Wouldn't it be great to be free of the limitations of strictly physical sight so that we could read hidden character traits?

Frankly, I think those who are physically blind often see more than those of us who are sighted. They often perceive much more than we can in the tone of a voice or in the sound of approaching footsteps or in the grip of a handshake. But we who have sight usually lack this insightful depth perception; the ability to detect the deeper things, the unspoken, the character, the hidden condition of the unspoken. And although God is able (and willing) to give us this ability, it isn't something we're born with. I'd like to make three significant observations.

First: Age has little to do with achievement and nothing to do with commitment.

Second: A godly walk is basic to a positive life.

Third: Convictions are a matter of choice, not force.

We must keep on continually pursuing—seeking to see life from the heart.

Excerpted from Dear Graduate: Letters of Wisdom from Charles R. Swindoll, Copyright 2007 by Charles R. Swindoll Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.