Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10
For some people, success seems to come easy. But if you look closer, you will usually find that their was a great deal of hard work behind it all. Such was the case for William Whipple who rose to the rank of ship’s captain by the time he was 21 years of age. By the time he was 29, he had amassed so much wealth that he retired from the sea and became a merchant. By the time he was 45 he was wealthy enough to retire altogether.
Whipple’s retirement was atypical; rather than being focused on leisure, we find that he devoted himself to “public service.” (Kiernan, p. 18) I admire that about Whipple, especially because a great deal of that service was as a soldier in the American Revolution, rising to the rank of brigadier general. Having signed the Declaration of Independence, he devoted himself to making it happen. That he had the financial means to choose a different path speaks volumes about the priorities and the character of Whipple.
(For more information on William Whipple see Signing Their Lives Away by Denise Kiernan, 2009)
