Many years ago, a newsboy, thinly clad and drenched by the soaking rain, stood shivering in a doorway one cold day in November. First one bare foot and then the other was lifted for a moment and pressed against his leg to get a little warmth. Every few minutes his shrill cry could be heard, “Morning paper! Morning paper!”
A man who was well protected by his coat and umbrella stopped to buy the early edition. Noting the boy’s discomfort, he said, “This kind of weather is pretty hard on you, isn’t it?”
Looking up with a smile, the youngster replied, “I don’t mind too much, Mister. The sun will shine again.”
What a picture of the Christian life! Chilling winds of adversity and grey skies of a sinful environment can easily discourage us. But we can always count on better days because we know God is working in our lives.
When interviewed by Success Magazine in 1898 Thomas Edison was asked, “What”s the first requisite for success?” And Edison answered this way: “The ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary. You do something all day long, don”t you? Everyone does. If you get up at 7 A.M. and go to bed at 11 P.M., you have put in 16 good hours, and it is certain with most men that they have been doing something all the time. The only trouble is that they do it about a great many things and I do it about one. If they took the time in question and applied it in one direction, to one object they would succeed.