Article February 15, 2021 Issue

Never the wrong time or place for good

It seemed impossible that we would be able to build even a very modest house, until our prayers opened up a wealth of spiritual ideas and opportunities to act on.

Nancy Humphrey Case

Conventional wisdom says there are good times and bad times—times in history or in one’s life when opportunities abound, and other times when opportunities dry up and one just has to wait out a slump and hope for a better time.

Yet even in those “bad” times, some people and businesses have prospered. At the height of the Great Depression, the Blake Brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts, opened an ice cream shop named Friendly, and the business (currently known as Friendly’s) expanded and prospered for decades. Business giants General Motors, General Electric, and IBM were also started during dire economic times.

Were these people just lucky, or perhaps smarter than everyone else? Or were they successful because they had a good idea—an idea that would supply something of value to others?

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