There is an old story told by minister Harry Emerson Fosdick about an experience he had as a boy growing up in New York. His mother sent him outside to pick a quart of raspberries. He didn’t want to do it. He approached the chore reluctantly, and that container seemed to fill painfully slowly. Then he changed the challenge in his mind. Instead of picking the quart his mother requested, he decided to surprise her by picking two quarts. Suddenly, everything changed. The raspberries hadn’t changed. The chore hadn’t changed. The amount of time he had hadn’t changed. His mother hadn’t changed. His attitude changed. I’ve been thinking about that story because I believe it applies to how we approach our neighborhoods and communities. It is easy to look around and focus on everything that needs to change. We want local government to do more. We wish people volunteered more. We complain that nobody knows their neighbors. We wonder why someone doesn’t organize an event, clean up the park, welcom...

When I think about the word “attitude,” I think about the way I choose to respond to the situations and people around me. My attitude affects how I treat others, how I handle difficult situations, and ultimately how I represent Christ. The Bible has a lot to say about attitude, and these verses show me that my attitude should be shaped by God, not by my circumstances. A story from the childhood of minister Harry Emerson Fosdick illustrates this well. As a boy growing up in New York, Fosdick remembered his mother sending him out to pick a quart of raspberries. He didn’t want to do it. He approached the task reluctantly, and the container seemed to fill painfully slowly. Then he changed the challenge in his own mind. Instead of simply picking the quart his mother had requested, he decided he would surprise her by picking two quarts. Suddenly, his whole experience changed. The raspberries hadn’t changed. The chore hadn’t changed. His circumstances hadn’t changed. What changed was his atti...

After three decades of scientific research, the results are in: hope matters—a lot more than we might think. In fact, the evidence overwhelmingly confirms that hope is a leading contributor to personal well-being and team effectiveness. Across industries and age groups, hope consistently correlates with better health, higher productivity, lower turnover, and increased job satisfaction. This isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s science. At the heart of this research is what’s known as Hope Theory, a concept from the field of positive psychology. Developed by psychologist C.R. Snyder, Hope Theory defines hope not as passive optimism, but as an active, cognitive process. It’s made up of three key elements: goals, pathways, and agency. Goals give us something to aim for. Pathways are the strategies we create to reach those goals. Agency is our belief that we can actually make it happen. Put simply, hopeful people don’t just wish things will get better—they believe they can make things better ...