Life's Mountains and Valleys

Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.

Linus and Lucy and Encouragement

The king of the comics, as far as I'm concerned, is still Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I love Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Pigpen, the Little Red-Haired ...

Dealing with Minor Obstacles

Just because you miss one train doesn't mean you have to cancel the whole vacation.

Learning from Discouragement

There was a story in the paper in Chicago this last weekend about a man who was being pursued by his wife. To escape her he jumped over a five-foot wall. ...

Possibility Grows Out of Discouragement

See the possibilities. Here's a fellow who sold insurance, and he went after a particularly difficult customer, a man that no one had been able to ...

The Birth of Raisins

The Franciscans were the first ones to systematically grow grapes in California. They grew the Muscat grapes to make Muscatel wine. One year they had ...

God Hasn't Died

Martin Luther once was so depressed over a prolonged period that one day his wife came downstairs wearing all black.

Martin Luther said, "Who died?"

Focusing on the Orange Spot

You perhaps have heard of the old sales managers' device of holding up a large piece of paper with a small orange spot down in one corner. He says ...

No Reason for Discouragement

John W. Yates shared this letter from a missionary who had gone into the jungles of New Guinea:

"Man," he said, "it's great to be in ...

Eeyores in the Congregation

Many of us think fondly of that dismal, old grey donkey Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh children's books by A.A. Milne. While lovable and secretly goodhearted, ...