"A great teacher has always been measured by the number of students who have surpassed the teacher."

How Little We See  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Earl Nightingale

     "Few people see the things and people about them. There’s an old saying that the person who does not read is no better off than the person who cannot. It’s the same with seeing. Millions with the gift of sight are really blind to the world about them. It’s like the millions who are free but don’t really know it, or understand it, and live in ugly, narrow prison cells of their own fashioning."

"You are the bows from which your children
     As living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
     And He bends you with His might
     That His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
     For even as He loves the arrow that flies
     So He loves the bow that is stable."

Great Art of Life  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Johnson

     "To improve the golden moment of opportunity, and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of life."

     ‘No matter what your circumstances, you can think the best and thus be blessed, or to think the worst and thus be cursed. Most inner pain is self-inflicted because we let our brains become addicted to thorny thoughts that rip and tear the tender tissue of our self-image."

A Harvest of Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connie Hinnen

Hatred Can End…. . . . . . . . . . . Joshua and the Children

     "Peace cannot exist as long as people enjoy hating. Hatred can end only when individuals choose not to take offense, can overlook the meanness and limitations of others, and understand the troubles that give rise to mean things. Few people grow to be that big."

Courage to Care . . . . . . . . . . . Earl Nightingale

     "It does take courage to care, to open your heart and react with sympathy or compassion or indignation or enthusiasm when it is easier — and sometimes safer — not to get involved. But people who take the risk, who deliberately discard the armor of indifference, make a tremendous discovery: The more things you care about, and the more intensely you care, the more alive you become."

Intimations of the Divine . . . . . . . . . . . Rabbi Heschel

     "Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginnings of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal."

     "The goal of leadership is not to produce great, or charismatic, or well-known leaders. The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body. The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers.

     Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?"

     "Whether we like it or not we have all been born on this earth as part of one great human family. Whatever the individual differences between us, ultimately, each one of us is just a human being like everyone else. Like others we desire happiness and try to avoid suffering, which is our right. But over and above this we all want to survive. If we are to do so, I believe that we human beings must develop a greater sense of responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for our own individual self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all humanity. Such a universal sense of responsibility is the best foundation for saving the earth from further harm, for the equitable use of its resources and therefore for world peace.…"

The Rabbi and the Soapmaker . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

     A rabbi and a soapmaker were walking together. The soapmaker said, "What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world! Still there, even after years — thousands of years — of teaching about goodness and truth and peace; still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings; if religion is supposed to be good and true, why can this be?"

     The rabbi said nothing, deep in thought. they continued walking until the rabbi noticed children playing. Then the rabbi said, "Look at those children. You say that soap makes children clean, but see the dirt on those children? Of what good is soap? With all the soap in the world, over all these years, the children are filthy. I wonder how effective soap is, after all?"

     The soapmaker was quick to protest, "But, Rabbi, soap cannot do any good unless it is used often."

     "Exactly!" replied the rabbi.

     When you visit a major league baseball park, you can’t be sure your team will win. But you can be sure, when the bottom of the seventh inning rolls around, that you’ll be on your feet singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

     It may be the most famous song in the world about baseball — or any game, for that matter. But did you know it was written by someone who had never seen a baseball game?

     Jack Norworth composed his "ball song" in 1908 when he was 30 years old. Riding the subway one day, he saw a placard with the message, "Come to the Polo Grounds, and enjoy a ball game." "An idea flashed across my mind," Norworth explained. "I figured there had never been a baseball song, so I pulled a hunk of paper out of my pocket and started scribbling. The music and words came together. Thirty minutes later I had it."

     But it was 34 years later before Norworth saw his first real game. It was 1942 when a friend finally convinced him to watch the Dodgers and Giants at Ebbetts Field. "I caught the fever," he said of that first game, and for the rest of his life Jack Norworth was a baseball fanatic.

     Yet, how could someone who didn’t know a home run from a sacrifice bunt write the best known sports tune of all time? Norworth pointed out, "Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, but there was no such place." It was simply a matter of using one’s imagination.