Corrie Ten Boom’s “The Hiding Place” shares the wonderful personality of her Father, one of Haarlem’s watchmakers. Corrie says this of him:

“Father was as innocent of business know-how as his father had been before him. He would work for days on a difficult repair problem and then forget to send a bill. The more rare and expensive a watch, the less he was able to think of it in terms of money. ‘A man should pay for the privilege of working on such a watch!’ he would say.”

Her father refused the term “competitors” when talking about other watchmakers. He preferred the term “colleagues”. One “colleague” would drop by every now and then to compare prices so that he could undersell them. “Father’s face would light up with a kind of pleased surprise as it always did on those rare occasions when he thought about the business side of watchmaking. ‘But Corrie, people will save money when they buy from him!’ And then he would always add, ‘I wonder how he does it.”

We share this example not as a business strategy, but as an example of a wonderful attitude and bright personality. Corrie’s Father loved life and loved what he did, despite other peoples success–in fact he even rejoiced in their success! May we always have a positive attitude and remember the Golden Rule.