Another "be" word... Believing. I had a wonderful friend who I always enjoyed being around because he had such a strong belief in the power of believing that you can do something. Often, the ideas he'd come up with would be hopelessly impractical and we'd talk them out together and he'd see that. He was not a impractical man... he was an extrremely successful businessman. He was that rare combination of practicality and belief. (I'm not talking about religious belief at the moment... just believing in yourself.)

I used to tell him how much I liked him because I know that if you believe that you can't do something, you can be pretty sure that you can't. It's very difficult to do something, if you think you can't. You get too discouraged and give up at the first dissapointment. If you believe that you can do something, it doesn't necessarily mean that you can, but that belief will carry you through the setbacks and make the difference between achieving what you've set out to do or failing.

If you believe you can't change your life for the positive, you probably can't. At least, not on your own. You may need to turn to some other power in your life and ask that you be given that belief. If there is no other power in your life, draw on the strength of those who believe in you. I think we can all look back on times in our lives when we hung in there because someone else believed in us and encouraged us not to give up.

As we say goodbye to 2004, this is a good time to give thanks to all those who believed in us and helped to carry us through the hard times. In the New Year, let us help our friends who need someone to believe in them, as others have believed in us in the past.

Jerry