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Volume 20, # 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 2005 |
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Volume 20, # 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 2005 |
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What’s in a Name? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Complete Speaker’s Almanac, p. 22
"Here we are in a month named after the Roman god Janus, an appropriate personification of the start of the new year. This particular Roman god had two faces so that he could look ahead toward the future and back at the past at the same time. As we get rid of an old year and look forward to a new one, we all try to be a little like Janus. We know through experience what we did wrong and what we did right, and hope to do better this year. Some people make ambitious new year’s resolutions; others just take a deep breath and hope for the best.…"
With You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conrad Aiken
"Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with you was more than bread."
Our Daily Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . Coach Vince Lombardi, The Essential Lombardi, p. 85
"The value of all our daily efforts is greater and more enduring if they create in each one of us a person who grows and understands and really lives. Or one who prevails for a larger and more meaningful victory—not only now but in time and, hopefully, in eternity."
Wisdom Seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward
"Success never resides in the world of weak wishes, but in the palace of purposeful plans and prayerful persistence."
As a Man Thinketh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Allen, p. 41
"They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles and self-pitying, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power-evolving universe."
Courtesy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George D. Powers
"Knowledge, ability, experience are of little avail in reaching high success if courtesy be lacking. Courtesy is the one passport that will be accepted without question in every land, in every office, in every home, in every heart of the world. For nothing commands itself so well as kindness, and courtesy is kindness."
A Cheerful Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous
"`Tis well to walk with a cheerful heart
Wherever our fortunes call,
With a friendly glance and an open hand
And a gentle word for all.
Since life is a thorny and difficult path
Where toil is the portion of man,
We all should endeavor, while passing along
To make it as smooth as we can."
New Ideas . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred North Whitehead, The Practical Cogitator, p. 44
"Almost all really new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced, and almost any idea which jogs you out of your current abstractions may be better than nothing."
Thoughts are Things .. . . . . . . . . . . . . Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich Action Pack, p. 15
"All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.…Thoughts are things, and powerful things at that when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence and burning desire…"
To Live Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, p. 18
"Rm. 12:2, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We are called to be people of conviction, not conformity; of moral nobility not social respectability. We are commanded to live differently and according to a higher loyalty."
Life’s Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
On Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rabbi Harold Kushner, Who Needs God
"Religion is first and foremost a way of seeing. It can’t change the facts about the world we live in, but it can change the way we see those facts, and that in itself can often make a real difference."
Word of Appreciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.C. Forbes
"A word of appreciation often can accomplish what nothing else could accomplish."
Look–Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zig Ziglar, TOP PEFORMANCE, Vol. 1, # 2, p. 3
"You will find what you look for! You can take the most outstanding person and by nit-picking manage to find some fault with them, or you can take the average person and start looking for the good qualities, and you will find them in abundance. It depends on what you are looking for.…
It is a simple fact of life that you’ll find what you look for. Significantly, the more good or bad you find in yourself, your job, others, your country, or your future, the more good or bad there will be to find. So, why not look for what you want rather than what you don’t want?"
On Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Merton
"The big problem that confronts Christianity is not Christ’s enemies. Persecution has never done much harm to the inner life of the Church. The real religious problem exists in the souls of those of us who in their hearts believe in God, and who recognize their obligation to love Him and serve Him—yet do not!"
Personal Defeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ashley Montagu
"The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming, and what one has become."
Laughter: Purest Response . . . . . . H.A. Williams, The Joyful Noiseletter, Vol. 11, # 7, p.5
"Laughter is the purest form of our response to God. Whether or not the great saints were capable of levitation, I have no evidence. I do know that the saints had the power of levity.…Laughter is the purest form of our response to God’s acceptance of us. For when I laugh at myself I accept myself."
Real Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sir Wilfred Grenfell
"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing something worthwhile."
Identify God’s Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday Sermon Masterpiece Collection
The late Thomas Merton once wrote that whenever he found himself struggling to identify God’s will in a given situation, he always resolved the problem by asking himself this simple question" "What is best for the folks around me?"
Because we are made in God’s image and likeness, because we can allow God to express Himself through us in any given situation, we, too, struggle with God’s will in different life situations, and we need to ask ourselves the simple question: "What is best for the folks around me?"
For Jesus said, "This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you."
Recipe for a Happy New Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous
Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.
Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing—don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.
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