Motivation Inspiration Quotations "Apple Seeds" December 2005

inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]

Volume 21, # 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 2005

Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!

inspiration motivation appleseeds "apple seeds" December 2005
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Takes Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pablo Casals

    "It is not very complicated. Each person has inside the individual a basic decency and goodness. If he or she listens to it and acts on it, one is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. But it takes courage."

Vision–Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joel Arthur Barker

    "Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without a vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world."

Mission of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mother Teresa of Calcutta

    "Each person’s mission is a mission of love…Begin where you are, with the people closest to you. Make your homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier…At the hour of death when we come face-to-face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not how much we have done, but how much love we put into the doing."

Last Days of Advent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope John Paul II

    Pope John Paul II in his address on December 18, 2002 said, "The liturgy of Advent…helps us to understand fully the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, it is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an ‘advent,’ a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously."

Be Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Horace

    "Unless you are brief, your complete plan of thought will seldom be grasped. Before you reach the conclusion, the reader or listener has forgotten the beginning and the middle."

Arouse Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred P. Sloan

    "The most important thing I have learned about management is that an executive must arouse the individual initiative of the people working under him. Big business must be human if it is to succeed, because what makes the wheels go round will always be human beings."

Fail to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William James, The Practical Cogitator, p.119

    "…The human individual thus lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum.…Excitements, ideas, and efforts, in a word, are what carry us over the dam."

Think & Grow Rich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Napoleon Hill, p. 28

    "Our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds and, by means with which no man is familiar, these ‘magnets’ attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.…let no one influence you to scorn the dreamer."

Art of Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lady Dorothy Nevill

    "The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

Willingness to Prepare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coach Don Shula

    "If you look at the great leaders, one of the things that makes them different is their willingness to do all the little things it takes to prepare."

Valuable Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Locke

    "The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have."

One’s Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Booker T. Washington

"There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: pushing down or pulling up."

The Critical Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.K. Chesterton

    "When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude."

As a Man Thinketh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Allen, p. 60

    "He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.…Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."

The Presence of Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward

"Christmas is not just a season,
Christmas is not just a day,
Christmas is more than a reason
For parties, presents and play.

Christmas is truly the essence
Of joy that the Savior brings;
Christmas is surely the presence
Of Jesus, the Kings of Kings!"

Add a Shimmering Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anon., Sower’s Seeds That Nurture Family Values, # 99

    The French painter George Seurat’s technique—Pointillism, or Neo-Impressionism—was painstaking. He used tiny, detached strokes of pure color, a multitude of colorful dots. Gazed at up close these are so small as not to be distinguished as part of a design., but together they make one grand composition. Those tiny dots of color, seen alongside other dots of differing tones—red, blue, yellow or their complements—suggest outlines and shapes of things.

    Art critics say those tiny dots add a shimmering quality of light to the painting; all make their own special kind of order. Seurat believed that one dot of color placed close to another suggested to the eye of the viewer still another color; they also suggested varied shapes and figures. The colors are not in the individual dots but result from the relation to the many other dots.

    Is not a community, a team, a parish made up of little and varied dots of faith and love? Each one of us is of a different color and shape and carries its own quality of light. When these individual talents are free to be what they are, to reflect their own true color, to stand by but in concert with the differing talents of others, they can shimmer together; they can set up the patterns and outlines of teamwork, of cooperation and of community.

1 Corinthians 13—a Christmas Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Source Unknown

    If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

    If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.

    If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love t    o my family, it profits me nothing.

    If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

    Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

    Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

    Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Merry Christmas and lots of love to you and yours!

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