Have you ever felt discouragement so deeply that you had a hard time coming up with a good answer for living?

Well, we all have from time to time. And I got to thinking the other day about a fable I read some while back. I don’t remember where I read it, or who wrote it, but, here it is as well as I can remember it.    

"It seems that the devil was having a sale of a lot of his wares; I suppose he was investing in some new ones. Anyway, there was on sale the, Rapier of Jealousy, the Dagger of Fear,and, the Strangling Noose of Hatred, each with its high price. But, on a purple pedestal, gleaming dully in the light, was a worn and battered wedge. This was the devil’s most prized possession, for with this alone, he could stay in business, and this was not for sale. It was the- Wedge of Discouragement."   

Fables like this have a way of showing us the causes of our troubles in a kind of round-about way that’s a lot more interesting than having someone preach at us.

Now to my way of thinking, discouragement can only come from one of two things; One, a lack of information, or two, a situation over which we can exercise no control.  And, it’s very seldom number two. Discouragement almost always comes from a lack of information. If we found ourselves falling from the top of a tall building, we would have reason to feel a little discouraged about living very long. But it could be traced to our having stepped off the top in the first place, due to a lack of information about the law of gravity. 

The world and our lives operate according to laws. If we know the laws and the rules, living can be a satisfying experience, and we can go from one success to another. Oh, we’ll have problems, but, knowing the rules, we can solve them - - or at least understand them. 

And one of the most important rules, the one which I’m convinced leads to more discouragement than any other, is this: Our rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to our service.

In other words, if a person is discouraged, or unhappy with his rewards, as a rule all he has to do is take a good long look at his service and find ways and means of increasing it. Because the two will always be in perfect balance. Sometimes there’s lag between our service and our rewards, but if we have the information about this, Number One, rule of living, we don’t mind putting out the extra service since we know it will be matched by our rewards. 

There are, of course, two kinds of rewards – psychic and tangible. Scientists, teachers, people who work in the field of religion and many homemakers frequently must measure their rewards in the realm of the psychic, but they are just as valuable . . . or even more so . . . than tangible rewards such as money, homes, cars and things you can knock on with your knuckles. 

Learning the rules of life is important. And, as Huxley once said: "To those who play this game well, they are paid with the overflowing sort of generosity, with which the strong delights in strength. Those who play ill, are checkmated. Without haste, and without remorse."

And Chesterfield, once said: "Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies."