On Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Huxley

     "Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not."

Create the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Franklin D. Roosevelt

     "A nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must above all believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future."

The Road Less Traveled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M. Scott Peck

     "Life is difficult.

     This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.…Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult.…Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief, noisily or subtly, that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has somehow been especially visited upon them, or else upon their families, their class, their nation…and not upon others…"

Ambitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Most people would succeed in small things,
if they were not troubled with great ambitions."

Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Cullen Bryant

"O Father may that Holy Star
Grow every year more bright,
And send its glorious beams afar
To fill the world with light."

 

Respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John W. Gardner

     "If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are."

Creative Leader . . . . . . . . . . Center for Creative Leadership

     "A creative leader is one who recognizes the potential in people and strives to establish and maintain a climate where individuals may develop and maximize their contributions. Within this creative environment, they involve others in the process of identifying and pursuing meaningful goals that bring both short-term and long-run benefits to all."

     "We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish. But we have not learned the simple act of living together as brothers and sisters."

     "We are all sowers of seed. What we sow and how we sow can bring great harvest. Seeds of kindness, compassion, and understanding, planted in fertile soil, can grow into life-time friendships, great deeds, and memories that never fade."

My Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Henry Channing

"To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
To listen to stars and birds, babes and sages with an open heart;
To study hard;
To think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never;
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up
     through the common —
This is my symphony."

Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. Alan Culpepper

     "Truth is like a bank vault with a timer that prevents it from being opened prematurely. Truth is learned from personal experience, so truth must be experienced. A part of growing up is gaining wisdom, experience and maturity.

     …There are aspects of truth that mean nothing to us because we are not ready for them yet. Then, one day, the coin drops, the light comes on, and something we have known for years becomes truth for us."

Be Great . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wm. Shakespeare

"Be great in acts,
as you have been in thought."

Don’t Ignore Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

     You’re familiar with the expression, "Kids say the darndest things," or maybe the one that goes, "Out of the mouth of babes…"

     As this story goes there is a very inquisitive four-year-old who happens to be strongly in the "Why" and "Tell me" stage. He was helping his father set up the Christmas decorations. Now imagine the following scene:

     "Hey Dad, why are there so many lights? What do these colors mean?" He goes on, "Why do you cut branches off the tree and hang them on the door?" Without waiting for an answer he asks, "Did you help your daddy when you were big like me?" Continuing, "Tell me again the story of baby Jesus. Why do we bring a tree in the house anyway? You know, mommy’s gonna get mad if you make a mess!"

     Sound familiar? Well it continues. The youngster was helping sort out ornaments and remarked, "Dad, what does ignore mean?"

     The father explained that ignore means not to pay attention to someone when they call you.

     The boy looked up at his father with a serious look on his face and said, "I don’t think we should ignore Jesus."

     Puzzled, the father stopped his sorting and knelt closer to his son and replied, "I don’t think we should ignore Jesus either, son. I think we should give him our fullest attention. Why do you ask that?"

     "But Dad, that’s what the Christmas carol says, ‘O come let us ignore him…’"

     Kids sure say the darndest things, don’t they. We actually get so caught up in the frenzy of seasonal preparations, shopping and decorating that we seem to ignore the true meaning of Christmas, rather than first preparing a place in our hearts to "come and adore him."