The great pleasure in life is doing

He lived by himself in a cabin in the woods.

He never came to town, never talked to anyone, and never put up a mailbox or put in a phone.

But he had one thing the townsfolk wanted -- the very first Bible brought by a preacher when the town was first settled.

They wanted it for their centennial celebration. 

Little Tom listened as the townsfolk complained daily about how much they wanted the old book to put on display.

One day, he walked on out to the little cabin and just asked the old man if he could borrow the book, just for a week.

Imagine the surprise on the faces of the people when the boy wandered back to town with the old dusty book in hand.

Are we like the townspeople sometimes?

Do we assume things won't work out without even trying?

Sometimes help is there, just waiting to be asked. 

What have we got to lose? 
 
 

We who are blessed with a closely knit family life, where thoughts and actions can be discussed and developed, are aware that what is given is not as important as what is shared. 

As we help one another, we learn that sharing can never exist unless we care first.

This is the major ingredient of love. 

Albert Schweitzer described human service toward a common goal as the greatest of deeds.

Charles Dickens assured us that when we lighten the burdens of another, we can never consider ourselves useless. 

Those of us who are led today may show the way tomorrow.

In giving, we receive, and in getting we cannot avoid being givers. 
 
 

Or do we believe that things will turn out badly for us?

Someone said that fear is faith in the negative.

We can choose to believe the worst will happen, or we can choose to believe we deserve good things. 

We can believe the right things will happen at the right time. 

What we believe becomes true for us because we behave as though it were true.

For this reason, it is wise to choose our beliefs carefully. 

The more we choose the positive, the more aware we become that our choices are many. 

This means telling ourselves that we're all right just as we are, and acting as though it were true without question.