Alexander the Great, having conquered Persia, wept because there were no empires left to conquer. Hugo Grotius, the father of modern international law, at the end of his life said: ‘I have accomplished nothing worthwhile in my life.’ John Quincy Adams, one of the more notable American Presidents, wrote in his diary: ‘My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations, and in ceaseless rejected prayers that something would be the result of my existence beneficial to my species.’ And Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote some of the greatest adventure stories ever, also wrote his own epitaph which said: ‘Here lies one who meant well, who tried a little, and failed much.’
We are often our own worst critics, but in the end the only assessment that counts will be God’s ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’