Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) is known as a minister, an author (most notably, The Power of Positive Thinking) and a founder of GUIDEPOSTS magazine.

We might assume that he always focused on the positive and knew he could pull through anything. That’s not necessarily so, as his daughter points out in a recent issue of GUIDEPOSTS magazine. As a newly married minister during the Depression, Norman feared for his family’s future, the future of his congretation and the future of our nation. It was his wife who encouraged him and reminded him that they needed to trust in God and share their blessings with others and everything will be fine.

Later in the 40’s as they were struggling with the new GUIDEPOSTS magazine, the Peales both needed more reminders of their state of mind and their focus. Their board had approached a wealthy woman to invest in the magazine, but the woman scolded them instead and brought it to their attention that their focus was on lackrather than abundance.  She told them they would never move ahead until they “get rid of those lack thoughts and replace them with prosperity thoughts.”

According to Norman, “God gave us abundance not to squander but to cherish.” And, as a client recently shared with a group of us “abundance isn’t when or if, it is right now.”

Think of the abundance you have in your life right now. (Really, take a minute to think about it.)

Since you are receiving this e-newsletter on a computer, whether at work or at home, you are more blessed than most of the world. If you are wondering how you will get everything done this holiday season between the baking, the parties and the shopping, be grateful! I challenge you to keep that in mind and in perspective during this holiday season.