I’m not one who believes there is anything noble about struggling. But most of us will find ourselves in struggle from time to time, a struggle with a decision, a struggle with pain, a struggle with personal difficulty, or even a struggle with loss. As I stood in the barn one morning this week and watched a new baby goat struggle to get onto his feet for the first time I was reminded of this story which, as I recall came from Zig Ziglar.

As the story goes, Uncle Bernie grew up on a farm in Canada. When he was four years old his dad woke him up at 3:00 in the morning. “Cup” his dad said, “get up. We have to go down to the barn.” Cup was his father’s nickname for Uncle Bernie. In German it means “the head” and in his family it was his father’s way of calling Bernie “The Smart One”.

When they got to the barn a mare was giving birth to a foal. “Cup, what do you see?” his father asked.

“I see a momma horse having a baby,” Bernie replied. The mare was in trouble and his father had to reach in and turn the foal.

“Cup, what do you see?” his father asked.

“I see a baby horse coming out.”

“Cup what do you see?” he asked again.

“I see a baby horse shivering on the straw.”

“Cup, what do you see now?” his father asked.

“I see the baby horse trying to stand up and the momma horse licking it.”

“Cup, what do you see?” his father continued to prod.

“I see the baby horse struggling to stay on its feet.”

“Cup, what do you see now?” he asked.

“I see the baby horse standing on weak legs and the mother nuzzling it.”

“Cup, what does it mean?” he asked.

“Daddy, I don’t know.”

“Cup, it means that where there is struggle there is life,” he answered.

Where there is struggle, there is life.

Sometimes I face struggles that seem insurmountable, or maybe they can be overcome, but I’m just too tired and weak to face them. It is then that this story motivates me.

I’m one of the lucky ones. Born a blue baby, I survived when not everybody did. Nearly five decades later I’m still on the right side of the grass. Not everybody is. In the midst of a difficult economy, my business survives.

Dead men don’t struggle. I’M ALIVE!

Today you are going to walk into a world full of struggling people. Their issues and problems are enormous. Their challenges are insurmountable. It’s your job as a leader to help them see their struggle in a different way, to realize the opportunity it presents, and to cause them to be grateful—not for the struggle—but that they are still able to struggle. In so doing you change their attitudes. They think differently. They come to life.

Make a difference today!