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Volume 26, # 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 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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A Good Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing Times
"A good rule going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head."
The Desire to Become . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Kurtz, The Spirituality of Imperfection, p. 92
"The desire to become and the commitment to do whatever is necessary to become distinguish identification from imitation. Imitation indicates wishing: ‘it would be nice’ to be like so-and-so. Identification involves willingness – the openness to do whatever is necessary to become like the model, the willingness that accepts that one can never ‘be’ another."
Angels – Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Albert Schweitzer
"A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint."
A Return to Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marianne Williamson, p. 109
"Someone with whom we have a lifetime’s worth of lessons to learn is someone whose presence in our lives forces us to grow. Sometimes it represents someone with whom we participate lovingly all our lives, and sometimes it represents someone we experience as a thorn in our side for years, or even forever. Just because someone has a lot to teach us, doesn’t mean we like them. People who have the most to teach us are often the ones who reflect back to us the limits to our own capacity to love, those who consciously or unconsciously challenge our fearful positions."
Wisdom Seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward
"Optimists are encouraged by possibilities and opportunities;
pessimists are discouraged by problems and obstacles."
To Do, This Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Og Mandino, The Seeds of Success, p. 146
"I will not fret about the future. My success and happiness does not depend on straining to see what lurks dimly on the horizon but to do, this day, what lies clearly at hand."
Bitterness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Jane Frances de Chantal
"Must you continue to be your own cross? No matter which way God leads you, you change everything into bitterness by constantly brooding over everything. For the love of God, replace all this self-scrutiny with a pure and simple glance at God’s goodness."
‘Restoring Confidence’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will Rogers, Will Rogers Speaks, p. 82
"I have just joined the great movement of ‘Restoring Confidence.’ There is a lot of people who got ‘confidence’ in this country, but we are a little short of good men to place ‘Confidence’ in."
3-Fold Way of St. Francis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Murray Bodo, OFM, p. 4
"…[F]or there on the mountain above the Rieti Valley, Francis came to accept God’s love for him, came to acknowledge for the first time that he was forgiven, that God loved him even when he was in sin, that all his sins were now forgiven, simply by his being humble enough to receive God’s forgiveness. There he came to know in prayer that God loved him and all other creatures and all of creation with an everlasting love. He became the face that was there all along, even when in despair he believed his sins were too great for God to forgive them."
Earn Self-Esteem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Lynn Scoresby, Priorities, Vol. 2, # 5, p. 49
"You cannot give your child self-esteem. Your child’s self-esteem will not ‘grow in proportion to the attention or presents lavished on her,’ according to educational therapist Lawrence J. Greene in 1001 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Schoolwork. ‘She will have to earn her self-esteem by solving her own problems, overcoming challenges and dealing with setbacks and failures. She will earn it with her own hard work and perseverance. She will learn to appreciate herself as she develops her talents and experiences her power.’"
Greatest Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baltasar Gracian
"The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him help himself.…If you see an opportunity in his path, point it out, but let your hand guide, not push him. Remember that the risk is his, and that he who takes it must make the decision."
Thoughts, Words & Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Allen, Above Life’s Turmoil
"Thoughts, words and acts are seeds sown, and, by the inviolate law of things, they produce after their kind."
On the Ordinary Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lettie E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert, p. 306
"My Father God, help me to expect Thee on the ordinary road. I do not ask for sensational happenings. Commune with me through ordinary work and duty. Be my Companion when I take the common journey. Let the humble life be transfigured by Thy presence."
The Flame of Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kouses & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, p. 9
"Leaders inspire a shared vision. They breathe life into what are the hopes and dreams of others and enable them to see the exciting possibilities that the future holds. Leaders get others to buy into their dreams by showing how all will be served by a common purpose.…The leader’s own belief in and the enthusiasm for the vision are the sparks that ignites the flame of inspiration."
Coach – Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vince Lombardi, The Essential Vince Lombardi, p. 33
"To be the coach of a great…team, you’ve got to be a good teacher. ‘Molder’ might be a better word. The team must be molded into a unit, must have a character absolutely of its own, without in any way affecting the enormous value of personal aggressiveness of pride."
Only You Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max Lucado
"There are things only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song."
Begin With A Spark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, Growing Each Day
A village blacksmith’s assistant once visited a large town and sought the local blacksmith. He observed that the workers there used a bellows to fan the flames in the forge. The bellows were much more efficient that the exhausting manual fanning which he did back in his master’s shop. He promptly bought a bellows, returned to his master with great enthusiasm, and informed him that there was no longer any need for them to exhaust themselves fanning the flames. He then set out to demonstrate the magic of the bellows, but alas regardless of how vigorously he pumped them, no flames appeared.
"I don’t understand it," he exclaimed. "In town, I saw with my own eyes the huge flames produced by the bellows."
"Did you first light a small fire?" asked the master smith.
"No," the assistant replied. "I just pumped the bellows like they did in the city."
"You fool!" the blacksmith said. "The bellows can only increase the size of the flame when you begin it with a spark. When you have no spark or fire, all the pumping of the bellows is of no use."
(Sirach 28;12) If you blow upon a spark,
it quickens into flame.
The Blind Leading the Blind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous
John Henry Fabre, a French biologist, conducted an experiment with processionary caterpillars. He took a flower pot containing pine needles, the caterpillars favorite food. Around the rim he placed the caterpillars, one behind the other, until they formed a complete circle. The caterpillars began circling around the pot’s rim, blindly following each other but going nowhere. They did this for an entire week. Then, one-by-one, they dropped off the pot, hopelessly exhausted.
So narrow was their vision that not one of them had broken the circle to go to the pine needles for nourishment. Such happens with the blind leading the blind.
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