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Good Morning. Here is a great thought for the day:

I HAVE A FEW STORIES that have helped me in my own life. They seem to me to embody truths that I believe are very important. One of my favorites concerns a laboratory experiment by botanist Alfred Russell Wallace, a contemporary of Charles Darwin. Interestingly, he developed the theory of evolution at about the same time that Darwin did. Wallace was ready to publish it when he learned that Darwin had started the experimentation about six months before he had. Wallace, a gentleman, deferred to Darwin, and it is Darwin whom posterity credits with the theory of evolution.

In the experiment, Wallace was in his laboratory observing an Emperor butterfly trying to get free from its cocoon. The struggle was intense, with life-or-death consequences. He wondered, "What would happen if I assisted this process?" So with a knife he made a slit down the length of the cocoon. This is what happened, in his words: "The butterfly emerged, spread its wings, drooped perceptibly, and died."

It had a swollen body, and small shriveled wings. The pain and intensity of the struggle had been denied it and it had failed to grow. Had it been forced to push its own way through the tiny opening, fluids from its body would have been forced into its wings giving them the size and strength to fly.

Of course, we don't always welcome adversity with open arms. We don't always welcome pain or setbacks. Yet with the right kind of thinking, we can keep them in perspective and see them as opportunities to grow, strengthen, and excel in our lives. With the right outlook and attitude, we can triumph over any adversity.

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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