Liz stared at the computer screen in front of her. Feelings of discouragement washed over her. She had worked for almost a year now to build her foundation to help abused women, but so far, she had struck out in obtaining much of any support for her cause. Another bill was due, but more women had also been abused, and she had not been able to reach them. Her prayers to God were that someone with resources would be willing to share. Even $10 from a thousand people could go suc

It is often entertaining to watch domino-toppling, which consists of creating simple or elaborate patterns and sequences with standing dominoes arranged in a row or rows and then toppling the first one to set off a chain reaction that causes all the dominoes to fall sequentially. This creates the so-called "domino effect." The domino effect is also known as cause and effect. It is the relationship between two things, one thing making something else happen. You also see this c

I once asked a group of students what one plus one plus one equals. Most said two, but one cleverly said “It depends on if it is in math or chemistry.” I added, “It would also change if we are talking about synergy because then the answer would be eight”. They were quite confused, but I explained with a pencil analogy. I gave a student a pencil and asked if he would break it. He did. I then gave him a stack of pencils and asked him to try to break them which he could not. One

About 16 years ago, I planted two peach trees. I grew up with my mom and grandma canning peaches and prefer those over store bought canned peaches. I also enjoy eating them fresh. I selected a variety that I liked and got them planted. It takes about 3 years before you can let them bear fruit. This helps the tree to get established and grow strong as well as be able to handle the weight of the peaches. My family and I have enjoyed many years of fresh peaches and had such an a

There I am, standing at the top of a ladder, about 20 feet from the ground. I am so confident that I could put this large bounce house up on the garage shelf for my friend. She is afraid of heights, but I am not and am happy to help her. I get ready to set it in place, but it slips slightly. I don’t drop it, but I don’t have the best grip on it and the other items on the shelf have now shifted. I try again, unsuccessful. At this point, it is getting heavier. My friend stops t

“Hey, I’m leaving the company I am at, and they need someone to provide some legal services on a temporary basis. Are you interested?” The call could not have come at a better time. I had just started out on my own as an attorney and was looking for clients. I hadn’t talked to the individual who called me for quite a few years, and I wondered what had made him think of me after that amount of time.   As I thought about how I met him, I reflected back to the apartment complex

As an attorney, I still often feel saddened or overwhelmed at many of the conditions my clients find themselves in. A mother with cancer who also has young children is left by her husband, even though she is unable to work. A father caught in the middle of a business partner’s theft of client funds. A daughter not being allowed to bury her mother next to the mother’s infant daughter that died at birth because the daughter’s brothers refuse to consent to the burial due to bein

Jim stared at Steve, the company’s vice president. “Really?” he thought angrily. “You really want us to double sales before the year ends? It took twenty years to get sales to where they are, and now you think it’s possible to just double that in a little over five months?”  Glancing around the room, the reaction of his co-workers appeared mixed. Dave looked tired as usual. Cindy looked excited and Gerald looked as angry as he felt. A mixture of the same emotions appeared in