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Volume 24, # 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 2009 |
![inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]](APPLE2.GIF)
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![inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]](APPLE1.GIF)
Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!
download as PDF
On Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.M. Trevelyan
"Education…has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading."
Over and Above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Kendall Adams
"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction."
An Author’s Pleasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Franklin
"Nothing gives an author so much pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors."
Some Great Desire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phillips Brooks
"Bad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely content with the life that he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is still, in spite of all, a child of God."
Seeds Your Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Louis Stevenson
"Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant."
V"I"P Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kouses & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, p. 7
"The ordinary executives who convince others to join them on pioneering journeys follow the path of a three-phase strategy…the VIP—Vision–Involvement–Persistence—model of leadership.
These leaders recognize that grand dreams do not become significant realities through the actions of a single leader. They know that scores of people are needed to create, produce, sell and sponsor the vision. The involvement of many others is key to making it all the way to the top.
…[L]eaders act on their wise understanding that new tomorrows are not realized without hard work and persistence…requiring relentless effort, steadfastness, competence, planning, attention to detail ,and encouragement."
Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albert Camus
"Freedom is not constituted primarily of privileges but of responsibilities."
Divine Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oswald Chambers
"God regenerates us and puts us in contact with all his divine resources, but he cannot make us walk according to his will."
Faith Rejoices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Emerson Fosdick
"Fear imprisons, faith liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
And, most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of all,
While faith rejoices in its God."
Proverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miguel de Cervantes
"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience."
Character is Forged… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sidney Greenberg
"Character is distilled out of our daily confrontation with temptation, out of our regular response to the call of duty. It is formed as we learn to cherish principles and to submit to self-discipline. Character is the sum total of all the little decisions, the small deeds, the daily reactions to the choices that confront us. Character is not obtained instantly. We have to mold and hammer and forge ourselves into character. It is a distant goal to which there is no shortcut."
In an Uncommon Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Booker T. Washington
"We shall prosper as we learn to do the common things of life in an uncommon way."
A True Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward
"A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities."
Love of Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. John Vianney
"Love of our neighbor consists of three things: to desire the greater good of everyone, to do what we can when we can, and to bear, excuse and hide others’ faults."
Dare to Be… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norman Vincent Peale
"Dare to be what you ought to be; dare to be what you dream to be; dare to be the finest you can be. The more you dare, the surer you will be of gaining just what you dare."
Listen to Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Kurtz, The Spirituality of Imperfection, p. 63
"Yet again, an ancient answer echoes across the centuries: Listen! Listen to stories! For what stories do, above all else, is hold up a mirror so that we can see ourselves. Stories are mirrors of human be–ing, reflecting back our very essence. In a story, we come to know precisely the both/and, mixed-upped-ness of our very being. In the mirror of another’s story, we can discover our tragedy and our comedy—and therefore our very human-ness, the ambiguity and incongruity, that lie at the core of the human condition."
Cherish Your Visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Napoleon Hill
"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate accomplishments."
Cost of Good Sportsmanship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Source Unknown
At the Rome Masters tennis tournament in May 2005, top-ranked Andy Roddick was leading 5-3 in the second set and had triple match point when Fernando Verdasco seemed to have served a double fault. The line judge called the ball out but Roddick said the serve was good after checking the ball mark left on the clay, giving Verdasco an ace.
"When he hit it and before I looked," Roddick said, "I thought it was out. Then I got there and it wasn’t the case. On a hard court, I wouldn’t have given him the point because I thought it was out."
"I didn’t think it was anything extraordinary," Roddick continued. "The umpire would’ve done the same thing if he came down and looked."
Verdasco saved two more match points, held serve, and broke Roddick to even the second set at 5-5. Verdasco then went on to win the set and the match.
Andy Roddick’s personal integrity, his moral duty cost him a spot in the quarter finals. So often to stand up with your moral duty of integrity includes a personal cost.
What are You Listening For? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday Sermon Masterpiece Collection, Vol. I
It was high noon in midtown Manhattan. The streets were buzzing with activity—crowds of people scurrying to lunch, car horns honking, brakes screeching, a siren wailing. Two men were making their way through the throng of noon-time lunch-goers. One was a native New Yorker, the other a Kansas farmer on his first visit to see his city cousin. Suddenly, the farmer stopped and said to the city dweller, "Hold on! I hear a cricket!"
His cousin replied, "Are you kidding? Even if there was a cricket around here, which isn’t likely, you would never be able to hear it over all this noise."
The farmer remained quiet for a few moments, then walked several paces to the corner where a shrub was struggling to grow in a large cement planter. He turned over several leaves and found the cricket. The city dweller was flabbergasted. "What great ears you have," he said.
"Not at all," the farmer replied. "Your ears are as good as mine. It’s a matter of what you’ve been conditioned to listen for. Here, I’ll show you." Whereupon, he pulled a handful of coins from his pocket and let them clink to the sidewalk. As if on signal, every head on the block turned. "You see," said the farmer, "you hear what you are tuned in to listen for."
Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!
Next planting is in September!
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