The first article of Christian faith is that man has one
and only one true object of worship. There is one Holy God,
creator of heaven and earth. He is Lord of all life. To Him
we are beholden for our life in all its meaning and its hope.
Monotheism for the Christian means that anything else which is
put in the place of our loyalty to God is an idol. The worship
of national power, or racial prestige, or financial success, or
cultural tradition, is a violation of the one truth about life,
that all created things come from God. To commit life to the
one true God is to refuse to have any other gods at all.
Values there are in abundance, interests, plans, programs,
loyalties to family and nation. But these are not gods; they
do not save us; they are not holy in themselves.
... Daniel Day Williams (1910-1973),
Interpreting Theology, 1918-1952 [1953]

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Every failure made me more confident. Because I wanted even more
to achieve things, as revenge. To show that I could.

Roman Polanski
(1933-, Film director)

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Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you
did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming

John Wooden
(1910-, American Basketball Coach)

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If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave. If a
man does more than is required of him, he is a free man.

Chinese Proverb
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Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power
to work is a blessing, that love of work is success.

David O. McKay
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If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always
another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down,
but the staying down.

Mary Pickford
(1893-1979, Canadian-born American Actress)

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I will smile at friend and foe alike and make every effort to
find, in him or her, a quality to praise, now that I realize the
deepest yearning of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

Og Mandino
(1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker)

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I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much
about what I think of what I do. That is character!

Theodore Roosevelt
(1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the USA)

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Nothing is too great and nothing is too small to commit
into the hands of the Lord.
... A. W. Pink (1886-1952)

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Can we believe that God ever really modifies His action in
response to the suggestions of men? For infinite wisdom does
not need telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no
urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things
that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate.
He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without
food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and
butchers, or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or
convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows
soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills
of men to cooperate in the execution of His will... It is not
really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should
affect the course of events than that my other actions should
do so. They have not advised or changed God's mind -- that is,
His overall purpose. But that purpose will be realized in
different ways according to the actions, including the prayers,
of His creatures.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "The Efficacy of Prayer"

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For I seek not to understand in order that I may believe;
but I believe in order that I may understand, for I believe for
this reason: that unless I believe, I cannot understand.
... Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

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The Bible tells us very clearly that to "know" God is not
an affair of the mind only, but an act in which our whole being
-- heart, mind, and will -- is vitally engaged; so that sheer
intellectual speculation would enable us to form certain ideas
about God but never to know Him. To be grasped, God's will
must be met with a readiness to obey.
... Suzanne de Diétrich (1891-1981), Discovering the Bible

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Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who
forgives you -- out of love -- takes upon himself the
consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore,
always entails a sacrifice.
... Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings
[With thanks to Bill Blake at pilgrimwb@aol.com]

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The one use of the Bible is to make us look at Jesus, that
through Him we might know His Father and our Father, His God
and our God. Till we thus know Him, let us hold the Bible dear
as the moon of our darkness, by which we travel toward the
east; not dear as the sun whence her light cometh, and towards
which we haste, that, walking in the sun himself, we may no
more need the mirror that reflected his absent brightness.
... George Macdonald (1824-1905),
"The Higher Faith", Unspoken Sermons [1867]

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