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Volume 26, # 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 2010 |
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![inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]](AppleSeeds-1c.jpg)
![inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]](AppleSeeds-2c.jpg)
Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!
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On Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Henry David Thoreau
"Many a person has dated a new era in life from the reading of a book."
‘Big Things’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alvin Toffler
"You’ve got to think about ‘big things’ while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction."
Potential for Greatness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love, p. 184
"Don’t ask God to send you a brilliant career, but rather ask Him to show you the brilliance within you. It is the recognition of our brilliance that releases it into expression. Stable, meaningful external effects don’t occur until we’ve experienced an internal stirring. Once an internal stirring has occurred, external effects cannot fail to happen. We’re all capable of an internal stirring, and are encoded for it. It is our potential for greatness. Achievement doesn’t come from what we do, but from who we are. Our worldly power results from our personal power. Our career is an extension of our personality."
Recognize the Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daily Word, May `91, p. 23
"It takes so little to let others know they are appreciated, but such acknowledgment is greatly valued. A thank-you, a phone call, or a card can brighten someone’s entire day. Make a point of recognizing the good that other’s do and telling them about it. Showing appreciation is a great habit to develop."
Wisdom seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward
"Our lives, like football games, need goals, boundaries and occasional time-outs."
Extremist’s Intolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert F. Kennedy
"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
Life is Measured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away."
Time—a Valuable Asset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership, 7/4/`95, p. 2
"Your time is a valuable asset. Each of us receives the right amount to complete our lives. While none of us knows just how much we’ll get or how much we have left, we do know that it comes and goes relentlessly. We can’t buy, borrow, or steal an extra second. And we can’t save any for a rainy day. That’s why it’s important to use every moment to its fullest."
Exemplary Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kouses & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, p. 10
"Enabling others to act. Leaders do not achieve success by themselves.…Exemplary leaders enlist the support and assistance of all those who must make the project work.…They encourage collaboration, build teams, and empower others. They enable others to act."
Pursuit of Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Franklin
"The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself."
Don’t Blame Me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Source Unknown
"If you destroy the beautiful planet I made for you and the earth us scourged by your horrible weapons of war…Don’t blame me!
I you keep finding someone to hate, and a way to express hate that causes you to live in anxiety and tension…Don’t blame me!
If you accumulate things upon things and then live in fear that you may lose them…Don’t blame me!
If by your own unconcern and lack of compassion for the poor, your taxes are raised to help them…Don’t blame them!
If you don’t take some deliberate time to learn about ‘Me and You,’ and consequently find your life confusing and doubt-filled…Don’t blame me!
If you don’t teach your children by example that ‘gifting’ their lives for others is the most noble thing they can do, you end up with grasping politicians and exploiters…Don’t blame me!"
Life—a Daring Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen Keller
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable."
Sense of Humor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles R. Swindoll, Laugh Again, p. 20
"A good sense of humor enlivens our discernment and guards us from taking everything that comes down the pike too seriously. By remaining lighthearted, by refusing to allow our intensity to gain the mastery of our minds, we remain much more objective."
Forgiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christopher News Notes, # 471 (Jan. 2005)
"Derived from the Old English forgiefan, to forgive is to ‘give up resentment; to cease to feel resentment’ for ‘wrong committed.’
"To say ‘I forgive you’ frees mind and soul from the burdens of a grudge. Forgiveness neither condones the wrong nor shows weakness. One must be strong to forgive.…"
Wherever We Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Louis Stevenson
"Wherever we are, it is but a stage on the way to somewhere else, and whatever we do, however well we do it, it is only a preparation to do something else that shall be different."
Thanksgiving Proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Bradford
Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made this first Thanksgiving Proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:
"Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."
Gift of Wonder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Alfred McBride, O. Praem., The Priest, Oct. ‘87, p.26
"Each year, God asks us to shed one more coat of awareness, one more dream state and come alive to the vision of God’s plan for each of us and the world-at-large.
The older we get, the harder this is to do. As children we had a sense of wonder. Our eyes were wide open and drinking in the fascinating gifts we beheld…Our thirsty souls could not have enough of the wonders of creation.
Then, somehow, we grew too old to dream. We tired of the abundance of the world, or at least grew weary of keeping up with the feast of life, and stepped away from the banquet of life.
The natural gift of wonder God gave us as children was meant to be kept alive.…Instead we let wonder go to sleep. We entered the typical dream state of most humans.
Why else does Jesus tell us today, ‘Stay awake!’…Advent says, ‘Wake up and realize the gifts of love you have received.’
…Psychology says, ‘Let go.’ Spirituality says, ‘Wake up.’ In both cases there is a withdrawal from the busyness of daily life (our dream state) and a waking up to the subconscious and spiritual depths of ourselves."
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