The beginning of the story is true – the couple awoke to realize their kids were upstairs in the burning house. But of course the guy didn’t make a New Year’s Resolution. He didn’t think about rewards. In fact, he didn’t think at all! He groped his way to the stairs, staggered up to the second floor and searched until he found the two little boys, huddled in terror in a corner. Then he grabbed one each under an arm and ran for the stairs and the exit.

Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving. It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn’t been enough money to buy me the rifle that I’d wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible.

Yesterday I shared an article with you from my friend Roger
Allen from the Human Development Institute, on the gifts of
giving. Today I wish to share with you a story to warm your
heart!

I love this time of year! It is Christmas time all around the world! I love this season because it causes people to be nicer, more giving and focused on others. Just as gifts were brought and given to the Christ child so we, in similitude, give gifts to those we love. There are two parts to this letter.

Marian married young. She took pride in managing her home and caring for her family as well as contributing to her household income with a part time job in a day care. When she was nearly forty, her marriage ended abruptly, leaving her with three children, a mortgage, and her pride. Her pride was an asset, forcing her to shake off her depression and rise to the occasion. She had a family to care for, and she didn’t intend to have to lean on family and friends to get through.

Paul Elliott of The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) wrote in 2006: If you had invested $2,000 in Pepsi in 1980 – and not another dime after – and reinvested dividends, you’d now have 2,800 shares worth more than $150,000. If you’d invested $2,000 in Philip Morris in 1980, reinvesting dividends, you’d have more than 4,300 shares worth just under $300,000. If you’d invested $2,000 in Johnson & Johnson in 1980, reinvesting dividends, you’d now have over 2,000 shares worth close to $140,000.

“My goal is to be wealthy,” the man said. “I’ve been trying different ways since I was nineteen years old. Now I’m forty-two, in debt up to my eyeballs, and no way to pay my kid’s college tuition in the fall. What am I doing wrong?” Have you ever heard the saying, “It takes money to make money?”

An aspiring writer I know became friends with the creator of a complicated role-playing game. The creator asked him if he could write a novel featuring characters in the imagined world of the game. “It’ll promote the game,” he said to the writer. “And it will give you a book in print. Maybe we’ll make it a series.”

In my book, DNA of Success, I write about a man in a wheelchair who attended one of my seminars. I had been talking about Core Desires and the resulting Conquering Force when he raised his hand and said, “What you are teaching is a lie – at least it is for me. I want to play pro football.”

Are you doing what you want to do? Making the money you want? If not . . . why not? Joe Straczynski, more widely known as J. Michael Straczynski, had his first play produced when he was seventeen a sitcom produced when he was twenty one, and his first movie script sold when he was twenty four. He wrote so many articles for his college newspaper at San Diego State University that the paper was jokingly referred to as the “Daily Joe.”