A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.  The next day she met another traveler who was hungry and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime; but a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said.  “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give something even more precious.  Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”

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I once heard about a farmer who was continually optimistic, seldom discouraged or blue. He had a neighbor who was just the opposite. Grim and gloomy, he faced each new morning with a heavy sigh.  The happy, optimistic farmer would see the sun coming up and shout over the roar of the tractor. "Look at the beautiful sun and clear sky!" And with a frown, the negative neighbor would reply, "Yeah - it'll probably scorch the crops!"

When the clouds would gather, and much-needed rain would start to fall, our positive friend would smile across the fence, "Ain't this great, God is giving our corn a drink today!" Again, the same negative response, "Uh huh, but if it doesn't stop 'fore long it'll flood and wash everything away."

One day the optimist decided to put his troubled neighbor to the maximum test. He bought the smartest, most expensive bird dog he could find.  He trained him to do things no other dog on earth could do - impossible feats that would surely astonish anyone. He invited the down and out man to do duck hunting with him.  They sat in the boat, hidden in the duck blind.  In came the ducks. 

Both men fired and several ducks fell into the water. "Go get'em!" ordered the owner with a gleam in his eye.  The dog leaped out fo the boat, walked on the water, and picked up the birds one by one.

"Well, what do you think of that?"

Unsmiling, the pessimist answered, "He can't swim, can he?"

Dr. John Adams