“What is greatness?” A young man once set out to find the answer to that very question. It was during the early years of our nation’s history. He was ready to start out on his life’s work, and so he went to an old family friend — a canal–boat captain — to ask his advice on what he should do with his life.

The captain responded with a question: “What do you know how to do?”

“I know how to make soap and candles,” the young man replied.

“Then do it, and do it well; but do one other thing. Take the Lord into partnership with you. Give him at least one–tenth of what you make, and realize that it is God who is in charge of the partnership, not you.”

The young man, William Colgate, took this advice to heart. He started a soap–and–candle business in New York City. His little storefront eventually grew into the Colgate–Palmolive Corporation. He became a philanthropist, one of the founders of the American Bible Society. Colgate University was named for him.

William Colgate achieved greatness by the world’s standards, but only because he knew a different kind of greatness: that which comes from serving God and others.