We caught a thief outside our house yesterday.

Kind of.

But not really.

When we stepped outside mid-morning to get some fresh air, we saw a middle-aged woman rifling through our recycle bin.

We weren’t alarmed.

Her bright smile when she saw us turned the encounter from uncomfortable to pleasant.

She asked if we minded that she take a few cans.

We told her to help herself and then asked her why she needed them.

Through broken English, she told us that she had recently moved here from the Philippines, but hadn’t been able to find a job.

She collects recycled cans and takes them to the grocery store so she can get the 5 cent refund they offer.

When she saw us reaching for some spare change, she smiled bigger and seemed to know that we were about to offer her some money.

She said thank you, but that money wasn’t the issue.

Her husband had work and her family was just fine financially.

We asked her what she needed the cans for, then.

Curiously, but without accusation.

She told us that her 15 year old daughter was having trouble adjusting to their new country, didn’t have any friends and wasn’t working very hard in school because of it.

She wanted to show her daughter than anyone can work hard.

No matter what the circumstance.

And even when it wasn’t easy.

Every afternoon, she put the $3.00 she managed to collect from local recycle bins on her daughter’s bed to remind her of exactly that.

We know plenty of people who could stand to hear this story.

How success is earned, not given.

And that’s true no matter what situation you find yourself in.

We learned more about real-life success from this 4 minute conversation than we have from all the “success” books we’ve read over the past 20 years.

Brian & Carrie