I believe God wants us to be successful … and yet success is not always obvious. The Chinese bamboo tree does absolutely nothing — or so it seems — for the first four years. Then suddenly, sometime during the fifth year, it shoots up ninety feet in sixty days. Would you say that bamboo tree grew in six weeks, or five years?

I think our lives are akin to the Chinese bamboo tree. Sometimes we put forth effort, put forth effort, and put forth effort … and nothing seems to happen. But if you do the right things long enough, you'll receive the rewards of your efforts.

S. Truett Cathy

Imagine the elation of architect Robert Mills. On that day in 1836, the fledgling Washington National Monument Society announced they had chosen his plans for the soon-to-be-constructed monument to the nation's first president. Mills had slaved for months over the elaborate drawings, and he had dared to dream big — a granite obelisk soaring over 555 feet high. It would be no less than the tallest structure in the ...