"It will make an immense difference with your faith and spirit whether you look upon civilization as a good thing which is becoming better or as a bad and evil thing which is decaying.  One viewpoint gives you a descending and decreasing mind.  One viewpoint will make you grow greater and the other will inevitably cause you to grow smaller."

- Wallace D. Wattles

I don't have the chance to have my whole family together very much anymore.  But, I have them around me right now, for a brief time, and it has shown me that we have followed the natural order of life.  My wife and I began a new family when we got married and we were lucky enough to have children.  I say lucky for two reasons.

The first reason is that having children has pushed us way beyond our individual abilities and the second is that it has shown us a path to achieving greatness that we would otherwise have never seen.

Something almost magical happens when an individual chooses to be responsible for the care and nurturing of another person.  It completely changes a person by forcing them to look past their own needs by focusing on the needs of another.  To focus means to place another person at the center of attention. 

It is this shift of attention that is transforming.  It literally makes us into a new person.  I like to call this process, "the getting of new eyes."  One sees the world in a new and different way; through the eyes of another.  It causes a person to see the world anew.  It opens the door to rediscovery and wonder.  It lets one see the "same old stuff" as something new and exciting.  It takes what has become mundane and routine and allows a new kind of joy enter the heart.  Perhaps more importantly it reveals the path of developing greatness.

This path is plain.  One must become great at doing small things or they will never be great at doing large things.  As a child takes her first steps we can see that she must take her fist steps before she can become a great runner, trekker or explorer.  One must learn to take care of herself before she can assist  others who may have missed a lesson or two in the art of living a great life.

The purpose of life is growth.  I hope you will embrace this purpose as your own and make the choice to focus on small things so you can become great at them.  As you do so, you will see that others will take note of your wisdom and will begin to come to you for counsel.  You will see that they will then ask you to perform larger and greater tasks.  When they do, make sure you do them in the same way as you performed the small tasks; the great way.  It is already within you.