The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growingweary.
Thomas Edison(1847-1931, American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Founder of GE)
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I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.T.S. Elliot(1888-1965, American-born British Poet)=============================================
You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be.Stephen Vizinczey(1933-, Hungarian Novelist)
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Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use of them.Napoleon Bonaparte(1769-1821, French General, Emperor)=============================================
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at the touch,nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.Oliver Wendell Holmes(1841-1935, American Judge)
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All successful employers are stalking men who will do the unusual, men who think, men who attract attention by performing more thanis expected of them.David J. Schwartz(American Trainer, Author)
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We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.Earl Nightingale(1921-1989, American Radio Announcer, Author, Motivator, Speaker)===================================
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind canread.Mark Twain(1835-1910, American Humorist, Writer)=============================================
Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.Doug Firebaugh
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Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.George Van Valkenburg
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In matter of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste,swim with the current.Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826, Third President of the USA)=============================================
When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we trulylive life.Greg Anderson(American author)=============================================
Vision without action is a daydream, Action without vision is anightmare.

Japanese Proverb
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Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning.
Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat)
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Sometimes we are to guard our heart... protect it from invasion and keep things safe and secure. Sometimes we should give our heart...letcertain qualities out and release them to others.Charles Swindoll(American Pastor, Author)============================================
To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.
Samuel Johnson(1709-1784, British Author)
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The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest workers.
Helen Keller(1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author, Lecturer, Amorist)
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There is no tally sheet in the exchange of small kindnesses; but there is shared memory and, from each person, the assurances of goodthings to come.
Lady Borton
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Fear is the single strongest motivating force in our lives. The more frightened you become, the better your chances of achievingsuccesses.
Lois Korey
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Discontent is the first step in progress. No one knows what is in him till he tries, and many would never try if they were not forced to.Basil Maturin
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It is difficult to give away kindness. It keeps coming back to you.
Cort Flint
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The only thing that keeps a man going is energy. And what is energy by liking life? Louis Auchinocloss
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Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. Leo Tolstoy(1828-1910, Russian Novelist, Philosopher)============================================
Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small one ssurround us every day. Sally Koch
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The past cannot be regained, although we can learn from it; the future is not yet ours even though we must plan for it. Time is now. Wehave only today.Charles Hummell============================================
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Mother Teresa(1910-1997, Albanian-born Roman Catholic Missionary)============================================

To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing, is perfection of character.Marcus Aurelius(121-80 AD,Roman Emperor, Philosopher)============================================
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat)
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To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.T.S. Eliot
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The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions-the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heart-feltcompliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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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. Charles Kendall Adams
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Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is for you.Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist)
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Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either. Golda Meir(1898-1978, Prime Minister of Israel, 1969-74)============================================
Our best success comes after our greatest disappointments.Henry Ward Beecher(1813-1887, American Preacher, Orator, Writer)============================================
Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost. James Thurber
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.Herm Albright
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A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparationfor success.Joyce Brothers(American Psychologist, Television and Radio Personality
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You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Be absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something. The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have. Norman Vincent Peale(1898-1993, American Christian Reformed Pastor, Speaker, Author)============================================
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.Christopher Reeve
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I believe you are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain. Rita Mae Brown
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Always demanding the best of oneself, living with honor, devoting one's talents and gifts to the benefits of others - these are the measures of success that endure when material things have passed away. Gerald R. Ford(1913-, Thirty-eighth President of the USA)==========================================================
Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures onthe window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces. Soren Kierkegaard(1813-1855, Danish Philosopher, Writer)==========================================================
Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves -- to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdayby our today. Stewart B. Johnson
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Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years. Bob Brown
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God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.Swedish Proverb
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Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes truehappiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller(1880-1968, American blind/deaf author, lecturer, amorist)============================================
Friendship renders prosperity more brilliant, while it lightens adversity by sharing it and making its burden common.Marcus Tullius Cicero( c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)============================================
Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this: When I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and nightit is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.

Alexander Hamilton

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When we accept tough jobs as a challenge and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.
Arland Gilbert
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The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right. Edward Simmons
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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 abovethe required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.Charles Kendall Adams

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When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take thereason of the thing into your mind, and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. Phyllis Bottome(1884-1963, American Writer)============================================
A stumble may prevent a fall. English Proverb

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You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. Henry Ford(1863-1947, American Industrialist, Founder of Ford Motor Company)============================================
Unless you're willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won't happen.Phillip Adams
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The fulfillment of the Lord's mercy does not depend uponbelievers' works, but... he fulfills the promise of salvationfor those who respond to his call with upright life, becausein those who are directed to the good by his Spirit herecognizes the only genuine insignia of his children. ... John Calvin (1509-1564)
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I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun hasrisen: not only because I see it, but because by it I seeeverything else. ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "Is Theology Poetry?"
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I can tell you for an eternal truth that troubled souls are always safe. It is the untroubled that are in danger. Trouble in itself is always a claim on love, and God is love. He must deny Himself if He does not come to help the helpless. It is the prisoners, and the blind, and the leper, and the possessed, and the hungry, and the tempest-tossed, who are His special care. Therefore if you are lost and sick and bound, you are just in the place where He can meet you. Blessed are the mourners. They shall be comforted. ... Andrew Jukes (1815-1901)_______________________________________________________________
Why do we talk and gossip so continually, seeing that we so rarely resume our silence without some hurt done to our conscience? ... Devout conversation on spiritual things helpeth not a little to spiritual progress, most of all where those of kindred mind and spirit find their ground of fellowship in God. ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418]_______________________________________________________________
We have been adopted as sons by the Lord with this one condition: that our life express Christ, the bond of our adoption. Accordingly, unless we give and devote ourselves to righteousness, we not only revolt from our Creator with wicked perfidy, but we also abjure our Savior Himself. ... John Calvin (1509-1564)_______________________________________________________________
Augustine shows clearly the religious character of sin. Sin for him is not a moral failure; it is not even disobedience. Disobedience is a consequence but not the cause. The cause is: turning away from God, and from God as the highest good, as the love with which God loves Himself, through us. For this reason, since sin has this character -- if you say "sins", it is easily dissolved into moral sins; but sin is first of all basically the power of turning away from God. For this very reason, no moral remedy is possible. Only one remedy is possible: return to God. But this of course is possible only in the power of God, and this power is lost. This is the state of man under the conditions of existence. ... Paul Tillich (1886-1965), A History of Christian Thought [1968]_______________________________________________________________
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. ... St. Augustine (354-430)_______________________________________________________________
Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender. ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)_______________________________________________________________
He looks today, as He has ever looked, not for crowds drifting aimlessly in His track, but for individual men and women whose undying allegiance will spring from their having recognized that He wants those who are prepared to follow the path of self-renunciation which He trod before them. ... H. A. Evan Hopkin
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Whence comes this idea that if what we are doing is fun, it can't be God's will? The God who made giraffes, a baby's fingernails, a puppy's tail, a crooknecked squash, the bobwhite's call, and a young girl's giggle, has a sense of humor. Make no mistake about that. ... Catherine Marshall (1914-1983)_______________________________________________________________
We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own. ... John Owen (1616-1683)_______________________________________________________________
If our faith is not relevant to our daily life in the world and in the parish, then it is no use; and if we cannot be Christians in our work, in the neighborhood, in our political decisions, then we had better stop being Christians. A piety reserved for Sundays is no message for this age. ... Douglas Rhymes (1914- )_______________________________________________________________
Above all, desire to please Christ; dread his disapproval above everything else. ... Rowland Croucher, Sunrise Sunset [1997]_______________________________________________________________
But since cause and effect is under the personal control of God, He can introduce into the situation other causes than the ones which we ourselves can control. When in faith we come to God for cleansing from the mess we have made of things, and when we ask for power to reverse causes we have set in motion, God sends in other causes by His Holy Spirit. It may be by direct intervention, or by a combination of circumstances which He controls. We can, therefore, be delivered from the wrath to come, because God will add other causes than those that we have initiated. ... Kenneth L. Pike (1912-2001), With Heart and Mind [1962]_______________________________________________________________
Not pleading with the Father, but expressing the Father's good pleasure is the key-note of true intercession. Forgiveness is God's idea, God's desire; and it is He who appoints both the Judge and the Counsel for the Defense. It was He who inaugurated the priestly work, that men might receive His cleansing and turn to the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. God has provided for himself a Lamb. It is He who sends His Son to be our Elder Brother, and to incorporate us as adopted sons into the circle of His Fatherly love. So then it is the voice of His beloved Son which is most clearly heard by the Father in heaven. In that voice of intercession, all the voices of intercession are contained and heard. The Son is talking to the Father about us, and what He says is not Please but Yes. ... David Head, Shout for Joy [1962]_______________________________________________________________
He had no qualms; "for", said he, "when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, 'I am used to do so; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself'. If I fail not, then I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him." ... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God
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What I am concerned with here is not to write a new life of Jesus, but to set down my witness to the continued shocks which his words and deeds gave me as I approached the Gospels uninsulated by the familiar cover of beautiful language. The figure who emerged is quite unlike the Jesus of conventional piety, and even more unlike that imagined hero whom members of various causes claim as their champion. What we are so often confronted with today is a "processed" Jesus. Every element that we feel is not consonant with our "image" of him is removed, and the result is more insipid and unsatisfying than the worst of processed food. ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Ring of Truth [1967]_______________________________________________________________
You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand. ... Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)_______________________________________________________________
If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand", or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying peace, peace, where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant words, "Let love be without dissimulation" and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love. ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), If [1938]_______________________________________________________________
There are, I should say, four elements in a redemptive community. It is personal, with things happening between people as well as to and in them individually; it is compassionate, always eager to help, observant but non judgmental toward others, breathing out hope and concern; it is creative, with imagination about each one in the group and its work as a whole, watching for authentic new vision coming from any of them; and it is expectant, always seeking to offer to God open and believing hearts and minds through which He can work out His will, either in the sometimes startling miracles He gives or in steady purpose through long stretches where there is no special "opening". It may fairly be said that unless one enmeshes himself in this "redemptive fellowship" of the church, he lessens his chances of steady growth and effectiveness, in his Christian life and experience. ... Samuel M. Shoemaker (1893-1963), The Experiment of Faith [1957]_______________________________________________________________
The world would use us just as it did the martyrs, if we loved God as they did. ... Bp. Thomas Wilson (1698-1755)_______________________________________________________________
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), missionary, martyr, The Journals of Jim Elliot [1978]_______________________________________________________________
The evil of riches, then, for institutions, for nations, for individuals, is that those who possess or seek to possess almost invariably overvalue possessions and so cease to live creatively. They stop loving God with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength and all the mind. They stop loving their neighbors, too. When you find a person of means who is not either a self-centered bore or a low person, you may know that God has worked a miracle. ... Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), God is Not Dead [1945]_______________________________________________________________
Words are merely carriers of the secret, supernatural communications, the light and call of God. That is why spiritual books bear such different meanings for different types and qualities of soul, why each time we read them they give us something fresh, as we can bear it. ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Light of Christ [1944]_______________________________________________________________
Many ordinary treasures may be denied the man who has God, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss. ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]_______________________________________________________________
None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with "unbelief." ... Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)_______________________________________________________________
The progress of mankind has always depended upon those who, seemingly isolated and powerless in their own day, have seen their vision and remained true to it. In the darkening corridors of time, they preserved integral their vision of the daylight at the end. This is a matter not of calculation but of faith. Our work may be small and its results invisible to us. But we may rest assured it will come to fruition in God’s good time. ... John Ferguson (1921- ), The Enthronement of Love [1950]_______________________________________________________________
God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no one say that he cannot shine because he has not so much influence as some others may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more because he was faithful and used what he had. ... Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)_______________________________________________________________
I don’t ask God to bless what I do. I pray He will help me to do what He blesses. ... Bob Pierce, founder and president, World Vision

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Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. ... St. Augustine (354-430), Confessions [397]_______________________________________________________________
If some Christians that have been complaining of their ministers had said and acted less before men and had applied themselves with all their might to cry to God for their ministers -— had, as it were, risen and stormed heaven with their humble, fervent, and incessant prayers for them -— they would have been much more in the way of success. ... Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)_______________________________________________________________
A man may be haunted with doubts, and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood... Doubt must precede every deeper assurance; for uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed. George Macdonald (1824-1905), “The Voice of Job,” Unspoken Sermons, Second Series [1885]_______________________________________________________________
Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light. ... D. L. Moody (1837-1899)
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Here is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love: when a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest servitude, in which he serves others voluntarily and for naught; himself abundantly satisfied in the fullness and richness of his own faith. ... Martin Luther (1483-1546)_______________________________________________________________
We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided. ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
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We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts. ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]_______________________________________________________________

Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...No matter how hard we work at the relational "glue" that bonds ourfamilies together, anger is like fingernail polish remover that instantly dissolves that bonding.- From "It Takes Two to Tango" by Gary and Norma Smalley

Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...One way intimacy is blocked is when our lives are filled with unhealthybehavior--habits and addictions that affect our daily conduct. Tochange those habits and addictions, we should first recognize ourmistakes and admit when we're at fault. Second, we must keep anattitude of wanting to improve. Third, we should share our feelings and needs with our mate and seek his or her understanding and support.

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...In marriage, providing a deep sense of security for your partner is likebathing him or her in warm sunlight. That means convincing your mate in a variety of ways that, no matter what, you'll always be there to carefor him or her.

Finding Treasures in Trials...Treasure hunting is transforming bitter into better. When you'rebitter, you're angry and feel low self-worth. When you're better, you feel grateful and enjoy an elevated sense of self-esteem.

Honoring Your Wife...If a woman has a poor relationship with her father, she may have a hardtime relating to her husband. The husband needs to realize he didn't cause this problem or some of the other things with which his wifestruggles. However, he is responsible for his wife, and it's his job to find out what she needs for health and well-being.

Honoring Your Husband...Love grows out of an attitude of honoring someone. When we decide thatsomeone is valuable, that decision alone is a major step in acting out our love for the person.

Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...Like few other emotions, anger restricts and binds us, tying us ineternal knots. Forgiveness, on the other hand, sets us free from those bonds, untying the knots that hold us captive. The Lord Jesus said,"Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6:37, NIV).

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...Can you imagine the ecstatic feeling you would have if your mate bvolunteered the question, "How can I become a better mate?" The honor you would feel would be overwhelming. So how about asking the questionyourself?

Finding Treasures in Trials...One method I use to discover the treasure in my personal trials is towrite on a piece of paper a list of my past trials and what possible benefits have come from each of them.

When you have a number ofdisagreeable duties to perform,always do the most disagreeable first. -- Josiah Quincy --

The minute you settlefor less than you deserve,you get even less than you settled for. -- Maureen Dowd, in 'New York Times' --

Be not afraid of growing slowly,be afraid only of standing still. -- Chinese Proverb --

Never regret.If it's good, it's wonderful.If it's bad, it's experience. -- Victoria Holt --

There are admirable potentialitiesin every human being.Believe in your strength and your youth.Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself,'It all depends on me.' -- Andre Gide --

The undertaking of a new actionbrings new strength. -- Evenius --

In the end, it's not the yearsin your life that count.It's the life in your years. -- Abraham Lincoln --

Write it on your heart that every dayis the best day of the year. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson --

I was always looking outside myselffor strength and confidence,but it comes from within.It is there all the time. -- Anna Freud --

It's always helpful to learn from your mistakesbecause then your mistakes seem worthwhile. -- Garry Marshall, 'Wake Me When It's Funny' --

When you are not practicing, remember,someone somewhere is practicing,and when you meet him he will win. -- Ed Macauley --

A ship in port is safe,but that's not what ships are built for. -- Grace Murray Hopper --

Learning to Communicate...
One of the easiest ways to reduce misunderstandings and communicationfriction is to share only a few thoughts with someone and then allow theperson to repeat back what he or she thinks you said, much as wouldhappen when you place an order at a fast food drive-through. Thismethod will also improve your listening skills.

Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
Keeping our "heads together" in stressful times is something like afoxhole experience. Those who have endured the horrors of trenchwarfare often remain friends for life, even though their ordeal may havelasted only a few weeks or months. Why? Because shared experiences,whether pleasant or unpleasant, creates the common ground in whichdeep-rooted relationships germinate and grow. The greater the intensityof the experience, the greater the potential for bonds of love andintimacy that can bind us to one another in a beautiful relationshipcalled a close-knit family.


Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...
One way to cherish our mates is to help them become fulfilled as people.We can do this by discovering their personal goals and looking for waysto help them reach those objectives. We all love to know someone ispulling for us.

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
When used correctly, the differences in the way men and women respond tosex can complement each other. When not taken into consideration, thesedifferences will tear apart the very fabric of your mutual fulfillment. Decide to stop waiting for things to get better. Only the two of youworking together toward love will make the intimate difference. Acquireand practice new attitudes and skills that lead to fulfillingrelationships.

Finding Treasures in Trials...
Whenever we're hit with a trial, if we don't allow ourselves to becomeangry and bitter, we'll become much more empathetic toward others whoare experiencing similar problems and more sensitive to their feelings. All these things make us more loving and a better friend.

Honoring Your Wife...
Recognize your wife's uniqueness. Because men and women are createddifferently, we need each other in order to grow toward maturity andbalance. A woman may have more intuitive relational skills, but one ofthe strengths of a man is that he can decide to draw on those skills byasking probing questions like these: On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being theworst and 10 the best, where do we want our relationship to be? Whereis it, in general, today? What could we do in the next several days orweeks to bring our relationship closer to where we want it to be?

Honoring Your Husband...
Never belittle your husband's job or the importance of his activities atwork. Nothing destroys a man's self-esteem more than to hear his wifecutting down his efforts to support her. And remember that beingignorant of what he does on the job may, in his eyes, be the same asbelittling his work.


Learning to Communicate...
Added benefits of drive through talking: (a) Gives you a chance to fullyunderstand what the other person is saying before you respond. Thisalso prevents tuning out the other person while he or she is talking. (b) Validates the other person and his or her opinions. When you notonly listen but also repeat back what someone says, you communicate thatthe person and his or her opinions are important to you and worth takingseriously.

Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
Do not be threatened by the presence of conflict, but use it as aflashing road sign that gets your attention to do whatever is necessaryto resolve it at some point.

Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...
So many men and woman treat each other as objects to be used. They maynot verbalize it, but they maintain an inward conviction that their mateshould do things that have never been discussed. This is like steadilypouring acid on intimacy.

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
The key to a close-knit marriage is maximizing the times together andminimizing the times apart. Our culture has a tendency to emphasize"doing your own thing" rather than marital closeness. The moreactivities you can do as a couple, the better the chances are thatyou'll develop a deep, lasting relationship.

Finding Treasures in Trials...
The pain we feel for others helps us move forward in our personaljourney into maturity. Additional benefits include heightenedthoughtfulness, gentleness, carefulness, kindness, patience, andself-control.

Learning to Communicate...
Many people complain that their mate is strangely silent when they dosomething above and beyond the norm. We need to give praise and thanksto each other for special acts of kindness.
Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...
We should instead discuss our roles in marriage and what areas we canencourage each other to do. We should choose areas based on genuinelove and not on expectations that have never been discussed.

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
What increases security in a marriage?-Saying "I love you" regularly.-Making long-range plans together.-Cultivating a pattern of thoughtfulness.-Valuing each other's thoughts and feelings.-Demonstrating a strong commitment to Christ and to the spiritualhealth of your family.


Finding Treasures in Trials...
Don't allow guilt to overwhelm you when you notice negative emotionalsignals flashing. Rather, make a decision to use those signals as amotivation to evaluate and change your focus.



Honoring Your Wife...
A man needs to recognize the tremendous worth of his wife. Women havetwo incredibly important capacities because of the special way they'recreated. First, they have an intuitive desire to build meaningfulrelationships with those in their lives. Not only that, but they alsohave the capacity to recognize a healthy and intimate relationship. Ina practical way, this means that a woman carries inside her a built-inmarriage manual!



Honoring Your Husband...
Every man has tremendous value. It's hidden at times, perhaps, butalways there -- a worth based on the incredible impact he has on everymember of the family through his everyday actions and attitudes. Encourage him to remember how important he is and to make that impactpositive and affirming.



Learning to Communicate...
A couple cannot survive if one person always makes decisions independentof the other. It takes longer to make a decision if you insist ondiscussion that produces unity, but it removes the danger of hastydecisions that can cause a couple future problems in their marriage.

Loving Actions


12:04 PM 8/25/2004
- From "It Takes Two to Tango" by Gary and Norma Smalley



Finding Treasures in Trials...
Avoid the blame game. Don't beat yourself up over mistakes you've madeor personal losses or mistreatment you might have received. If you canavoid shame and blame, your recovery will be much quicker.

Honoring Your Wife...
When you honor your wife, she will sense that nothing and no one in theworld is more important to you. She won't have to wonder if she'snumber one--she'll know.

Honoring Your Husband...
Don't feel hurt and condemn your husband because he doesn't speak the"language of relationships" very well. To him, it's like a foreignlanguage. Instead, help him learn to use it as fluently as you do.

Learning to Communicate...
The salt principle is a method of gaining and holding a person'sattention by arousing curiosity. It's a way to create a thirst forconstructive conversation in which both you and your spouse can learnabout each other's needs. First, identify the need or concern to bediscussed, and then identify areas of high interest to the otherperson--areas you can tap into to pique interest.


Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
Because a woman's need for a close, meaningful relationship is oftengreater than a man's, she is more sensitive to words and actions thatcan weaken a relationship.

Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...
Persistent love--like the dripping of water on a rock--can wear away aperson's resistance. It's nearly impossible to stay angry with oremotionally distant from someone who unconditionally loves and valuesyou.

Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
Design togetherness times that incorporate your spouse's interests. These may involve athletic events, musical concerts, museum trips, mealsout, fine arts and entertainment, vacations and so on.


Finding Treasures in Trials...
Allow yourself to grieve over any pain from discomforting experiences. Though I urge you to keep an optimistic outlook when confronted with anegative experience, it's still important to allow yourself to figureout what took place, analyze how it makes you feel, and sense the painassociated with the event. If you don't take this step, you can fallinto denial and stuff the feelings so deep that you think you've solvedthe problem.


Honoring Your Wife...
Honoring your wife means protecting her like an offensive linemanforming a wall of protection in front of his quarterback. In football,there are rules to protect the quarterback from injury. Honor is thebiblical principle God designed to protect each mate from beingunnecessarily injured.


Honoring Your Wife...
Your wife has "fences" that protect her privacy or need for emotionalspace. When you respect these boundaries, it shows that you honor herrequests.



Honoring Your Husband...
By diminishing your expectations--by not expecting your husband toprovide a level of fulfillment that only God can give--you free yourhusband of a burden you otherwise force him to bear, and you freeyourself from unnecessary disappointment. This doesn't mean ignoringyour needs or wants, just getting rid of your time limit andpreconceived ideas about when and how those expectations will be met.



Learning to Communicate...
Work to avoid judgmental attitudes like "How stupid!" Oh, no, thatwould never work" or "You'll never understand!" If you criticize yourmate in a condescending manner, you're actually pushing him or herfurther away from you. No one enjoys being with a disrespectful person(Proverbs 21:19).


Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
There are five keys or attitudes that open a closed spirit:
-Become gentle; demonstrate tenderheartedness. -Understand what the other person has gone through, listeningcarefully not only to what is said, but also to how it issaid. What has caused the anger?-Acknowledge that the person is hurting, and admit when you havebeen offensive.-Touch the other person gently.-Ask for forgiveness.


Learning to Communicate...
It's crucial that a husband listen to his wife's correction. Throughher, he can learn to how to love her as Christ loves the church, so thattheir relationship will blossom into the mature marriage God designed.


Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
Those men and women who are wise enough to reopen a person's spirit haveto learn to listen beyond the words to the hurt feelings behind them.


Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...
No one can continually ignore considerate, loving actions. If you makeyour mate feel special, you increase his or her desire to do the samefor you.


Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
Meaningful touching outside the bedroom can create sparks in a marriage,and meaningful communication can fan the flames.

Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...
Deep-seated problems don't vanish instantly. They require consistentwork by the couple and a reliance on God's strength for daily endurance.
creative ways to show your love and strengthen your marriage
Genuine love doesn't necessarily spring from feelings. Its basis isprimarily a concern for the welfare of another. Although the feelingsof affection will follow, genuine love is initially an action directedtoward fulfilling another person's needs.


Keeping Alive Romance and Security...
Romantic touching and hugging can convey peace and comfort, as well aslove. To the degree that we employ it with our mate, we remove theemotional threats that block intimacy.

Finding Treasures in Trials...
Avoid continual concentration on what you're losing or being denied in atrial. Try to think of what new opportunities this situation may bring,what you might learn from this obstacle, and what future happiness liesin store.

-----------------------------

Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the

past.

-- Tyron Edwards
-------------------------------


Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's
superiority to all that befalls him.

-- Romain Gary (1914-1980) French Writer


-----------------------------

There is no sensual pleasure in the world comparable to the delight
and satisfaction that a good man takes in doing good.

-- Tillotson

-----------------------------

Men can be stimulated to show off their good qualities to the leader who

seems to think they have good qualities.

-- John Richelsen
-----------------------------

Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities
vanish.

-- Jean de la Fontaine


-----------------------------

Those who, relying upon themselves only, not looking for assistance
to anyone besides themselves, it is they who will reach the top-most
height.

-- Buddha
-----------------------------

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

-- Henry Ford (1863-1947) American Industrialist


-----------------------------

I have found that the greatest help in meeting any problem with
decency and self-respect and whatever courage is demanded, is to know
where you yourself stand. That is, to have in words what you believe
and are acting from.

-- William Faulkner (1897-1962) American Writer

-----------------------------

The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude. If you are
suspicious, unfriendly and condescending, you will find these
unlovely traits echoed all about you. But if you are on your best
behavior, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you
are going to spend most of your waking hours.

-- Beatrice Vincent

-----------------------------

What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.

-- Portuguese proverb

-----------------------------

The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of
immortality.

-- John Quincy Adams

-----------------------------

There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is,
not to be true to the best one knows.

-- John Farrar (1945-) Austrailian Composer
-----------------------------

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.

-- Duguet

-----------------------------

There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true
nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

-- Hindu proverb

-----------------------------

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and
lifting people up.

-- John Andrew Holmes

-----------------------------

I am convinced that the world is not a mere bog in which men and
women trample themselves and die. Something magnificent is taking
place here amidst the cruelties and tragedies, and the supreme
challenge to intelligence is that of making the noblest and best in
our curious heritage prevail.

-- C.A. Beard
-----------------------------

The life of man is like a game with dice; if you don’t get the throw
you want, you must show your skill in making the best of the throw
you get.

-- Terence

-----------------------------

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present
generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of
it! - letter to Abigail Adams, April 26, 1777

-- John Adams (1735-1826) Second U.S. President

-----------------------------

He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.

-- Japanese proverb

-----------------------------

Man's greatest actions are performed in minor struggles. Life,
misfortune, isolation, abandonment and poverty are battlefields which
have their heroes - obscure heroes who are at times greater than
illustrious heroes.

-- Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French Writer
-----------------------------

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they
will surprise you with their ingenuity.

-- General George S. Patton

-----------------------------

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced
courses of action you should take - choose the bolder.

-- W.J. Slim

-----------------------------

I praise loudly; I blame softly.

-- Catherine the Second (1729-1796) Russian Empress-----------------------------

Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for
long-term values.

-- Joshua L. Liebman

-----------------------------

I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes
stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never
more brave than when we do that.

-- Linda Ellerbee (1944- ) American Journalist

-----------------------------

A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.

-- Wilma Askinas (1926- ) American Author

-----------------------------

Anger is a prelude to courage.

-- Eric Hoffer

-----------------------------

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those
who can do nothing for them or to them.

-- Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) American Publisher
-----------------------------

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and
does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does the reverse.

-- Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher

-----------------------------

What is now proved was once only imagined.

-- William Blake (1757-1827) English Poet


-----------------------------

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.

-- Swedish proverb

-----------------------------

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

-- Lee Iococca

-----------------------------

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

-- Norman MacFinan
-----------------------------

The manner in which it is given is worth more than the gift.

-- Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) French Playwright


-----------------------------

Genuine security arises from actual, first-hand knowledge that one is
both capable and worthy of achieving happiness (through conscious,
responsible action) and, once having attained it, that he deserves
it.

-- Michael J. Hurd () American Motivational Speaker

-----------------------------

Some people say I have attitude - maybe I do. But I think you have
to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does - that
makes you a winner right there.

-- Venus Williams US tennis champion

-----------------------------

Virtue means doing the right thing, in relation to the right person,
at the right time, to the right extent, in the right manner, and for
the right purpose. Thus, to give money away is quite a simple task,
but for the act to be virtuous, the donor must give to the right
person, for the right purpose, in the right amount, in the right
manner, and at the right time.

-- Aristotle
-----------------------------

Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger
you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.

-- Epictetus (55-135 AD) Roman Philosopher

-----------------------------

There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is
play that is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lie
happiness.

-- Gelett Burgess

-----------------------------

Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

-- Ingrid Bergman

-----------------------------

Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody
believes he got the biggest piece.

-- Sherry Rothfield

-----------------------------

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am
thankful that thorns have roses.

-- Allophones Karr

-----------------------------

When you take a risk and step out of the norm, you run the risk and
sometimes you fail. But you only fail if you give up.

-- J Peterman () American Author

-----------------------------

Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.

-- Peter Mayle (1939-) British Author and Writer

-----------------------------

You cannot add to the peace and good will of the world if you fail to
create an atmosphere of harmony and love right where you live and
work.

-- Thomas Dreier

-----------------------------

We all get report cards in many different ways, but the real
excitement of what you're doing is in the doing of it. It's not what
you're gonna get in the end - it's not the final curtain - it's
really in the doing it, and loving what I'm doing.

-- Designer Ralph Lauren

-----------------------------

When we are mindful of every nuance of our natural world, we finally
get the picture: that we are only given one dazzling moment of life
here on Earth, and we must stand before that reality both humbled and
elevated, subject to every law of our universe and grateful for our
brief but intrinsic participation with it. (From her biography of
naturalist Eustace Conway.)

-- Elizabeth Gilbert
------------------------
One kind word can warm three winter months.

Japanese Proverb
============================================

When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling
inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says,
yes, this is how I ought to feel.

Rabbi Harold Kushner
=============================================

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another
human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled
this light.

Albert Schweitzer
(1875-1965, German Born Medical Missionary, Theologian, Philosopher)

=============================================

No matter how big and tough a problem may be, get rid of
confusion by taking one little step toward solution. Do something.

George Nordenholt
=============================================

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked,
through understanding.

Kahlil Gibran
(1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Novelist)

=============================================

Marriage Quotes

- From "It Takes Two to Tango" by Gary and Norma Smalley

The most successful relationships are those in which each person feels
safe sharing his or her feelings and needs. This is where our
personalities and parenting histories strongly affect us, because many
of us are fearful or uncomfortable about sharing such intimacies.

- From "It Takes Two to Tango" by Gary and Norma Smalley
*****************************************************
Honoring Your Wife...

When a man learns to speak both the language of the head and the
language of the heart, it can make tremendous positive changes in his
own life and in the lives of his wife and children.

**********************
Honoring Your Husband...

Though your husband may not demonstrate or even realize it, he needs you
to teach him about intimate relationships! Men can learn how to relate
at a deep level, but only when they've chosen to communicate--a decision
you can help your mate to make.

***************************************
Learning to Communicate...

Communication takes perseverance--and the very strength and courage of
God's Spirit--to replace impatience, insensitivity, and
self-preoccupation with loving communication patterns
***************************************************
Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...

When we have offended someone, we must give that person a chance to
respond. True restoration is confession of wrong plus forgiveness
granted.

**********************************************
Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...

Whenever a husband and wife agree on the main areas of their lives, they
become bonded together and achieve a unique strength. Desert Storm was
a military success because the various leaders battled with a clearly
understood plan and mutual strategy. Two people united are much
stronger than one.

**********************************************
Keeping Alive Romance and Security...

Take the initiative occasionally to suggest a specific time to talk
together. For example, set up a breakfast or dinner out with just the
two of you. Let your convictions show. Meaningful conversation is
crucial in developing a growing and loving relationship.
***********************************************
Keeping Alive Romance and Security...

When you speak of a man's personal power, you immediately think of words
reflecting character like warmth, sensitivity, dependability,
determination, genuine compassion, and caring.
***********************************************
Honoring God...

We honor God by serving Him. Seeing people (like our mate) renewed,
healed, blessed, encouraged, and motivated by our love for them
increases our self-worth as servants of God.

************************************************
Honoring Your Wife...

A woman misses very little about her environment, which is probably the
basis for that mysterious gift some have called intuition--and another
reason a man should honor and value his wife.

*************************************************
Honoring Your Husband...

You can motivate your husband to love you by learning to be a
courageous, persistent, and patient wife. As a completer and helper,
you will need courage to help motive change, gentle persistence to make
sure it continues, and patience to wait on the Lord when change is long
in coming.

***************************************************
Learning to Communicate...

Words have awesome power to build us up or tear us down emotionally.
Many people can clearly remember words of praise their parents spoke
years ago. Others can remember negative, cutting words--in
extraordinary detail
****************************************************
Resolving Conflict and Dealing with Anger...

Even when crises come from external sources, we must be careful not to
close the spirits of those around us. When we are under stress, we can
react harshly to our mate and close his or her spirit.

******************************************************
Increasing Your Intimacy 100 Percent...

Keeping your written relationship menu posted in a prominent household
location provides a continual reminder of which values and rules you're
working toward. It generally takes about 30 days to start a new habit.
So if you're regularly working on attaining your goals, it will only
take a month before you notice significant changes in your relationship.

************************************************************
Keeping Alive Romance and Security...

How can we turn our negative thoughts to positive ones before they
affect our sense of worth and become a hurtful part or our self-image?
By developing a grateful attitude. One of the most attractive qualities
a person can have is a spirit of gratefulness.

************************************************************


Finding Treasures in Trials...

Great faith is the confidence, even during a trial, that it will one day
turn out to be to our benefit. "Dinky" faith is complaining or
"murmuring" during a trial that there will be no benefit.

****************************************
Finding Treasures in Trials...

Disappointed expectations confront us all. How we handle those
disappointments will have a powerful impact on the peace and stability
of our lives.

*****************************************
Honoring God...

When we rejoice in the Lord always, He keeps us, in many situations,
from giving in to such temptations as envy, jealousy, fear, and anger.
Rejoicing, even in times of testing, is acknowledging that God is the
source of life. And it brings us to the place where our lives can be
filled by God Himself.
*****************************************

Honoring Your Wife...

When a man treats his wife carelessly, she's usually offended far deeper
than he realizes. She begins to close him out, and if he continues to
hurt her feelings, she will separate herself from him mentally,
emotionally, and physically

.

*************************************
Keeping Alive Romance and Security...

Touch has the power to instantly calm, reassure, transfer courage, and
stabilize a situation beginning to spin out of control. With touch, we
push back the threatening shadows of anger, bitterness, loneliness, and
insecurity.

**********************************
Honoring God...

God wants us to be mature, loving people who reflect Jesus Christ's
character in every area of life, including marriage. The only way He
can make that happen is to allow trials. It's important to note that
God doesn't cause the trials. They come from many sources, including
our own sinful nature and Satan, God's enemy. But God uses them for our
ultimate benefit.

***********************************

"Wise men and women in every major culture
throughout history have found that the secret to happiness is not in getting more but in wanting less." - E. St. James

*****************************************************************
Those who complain that they make no progress in the life
of prayer because they "cannot meditate" should examine, not
their capacity for meditation, but their capacity for
suffering and love. For there is a hard and costly element, a
deep seriousness, a crucial choice, in all genuine religion.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

_______________________________________________________________
Leave Him [God] out of our explanations, and the life of
thought is decapitated... Without God, everything dries up.
... Martin C. D'Arcy (1888-1976)

_______________________________________________________________

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we
belong to each other.

Mother Teresa
(1910-1997, Albanian-born Roman Catholic Missionary)

========================================

It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's
what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be
cherished, that every flower is to bloom.

Alice Walker
============================================
Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible,
it cannot be seen or measured, yet is powerful enough to transform you
in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession ever
could.

Barbara De Angelis
(American Expert on Relationship & Love, Author)

============================================
First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to
others.

Thomas ãempis
(1379-1471, German Monk, Mystic, Religious Writer)

============================================
You are what your deep driving desire is; As your deep driving
desire is, so is your will; As your will is so is your deed; As your
deed is so is your destiny.

The Upanishads
============================================
It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And
it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884-1962, American First Lady, Columnist, Lecturer, Humanitarian)

============================================
Each of us individually has risen into moral life from a
mode of being which was purely natural; in other words, each
of us also has fallen -- fallen, presumably in ways determined
by his natural constitution, yet certainly, as conscience
assures us, in ways for which we are morally answerable, and to
which, in the moral constitution of the world, consequences
attach which we must recognise as our due. They are not only
results of our action, but results which that action has
merited; and there is no moral hope for us unless we accept
them as such.
... James Denney (1856-1917), The Atonement and the Modern
Mind [1903]

_______________________________________________________________
***************************************************************
For the first two or three years after my conversion, I
used to ask for specific things. Now I ask for God. Supposing
there is a tree full of fruits -— you will have to go and buy
or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree. Every day you
would have to go for one or two fruits. But if you can make
the tree your own property, then all the fruits will be your
own. In the same way, if God is your own, then all things in
Heaven and on earth will be your own, because He is your Father
and is everything to you; otherwise you will have to go and ask
like a beggar for certain things. When they are used up, you
will have to ask again. So ask not for gifts but for the Giver
of Gifts: not for life but for the Giver of Life -— then life and
the things needed for life will be added unto you.
... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)_______________________________________________________________

Never again are we to look at the stars, as we did when we
were children, and wonder how far it is to God. A being
outside our world would be a spectator, looking on but taking
no part in this life, where we try to be brave despite all the
bafflement. A god who created, and withdrew, could be mighty,
but he could not be love. Who could love a God remote, when
suffering is our lot? Our God is closer than our problems, for
they are out there, to be faced; He is here, beside us,
Emmanuel.
... Joseph E. McCabe (1912- ), Handel's Messiah [1978]

_______________________________________________________________
Jesus... did not finish all the urgent tasks in Palestine
or all the things He would have liked to do, but He did finish
the work which God gave Him to do. The only alternative to
frustration is to be sure that we are doing what God wants.
Nothing substitutes for knowing that this day, this hour, in
this place, we are doing the will of the Father. Then and only
then can we think of all the other unfinished tasks with
equanimity, and leave them with God.
... Charles E. Hummel (1923- ), The Tyranny of the Urgent
[1997]

_______________________________________________________________
At the earlier Methodist class meetings, members were
expected every week to answer some extremely personal
questions, such as the following: Have you experienced any
particular temptations during the past week? How did you react
or respond to those temptations? Is there anything you are
trying to keep secret, and, if so, what? At this point, the
modern Christian swallows hard! We are often coated with a
thick layer of reserve and modesty which covers "a multitude
of sins" -- usually our own. Significantly, James 5:16-20, the
original context of that phrase, is the passage which urges,
"Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed."
... Michael Griffiths (1928- ), Cinderella with Amnesia
[1975]
----------------------------------------------------------------
He who has surrendered himself to it knows that the Way
ends on the Cross -- even when it is leading him through the
jubilation of Gennesaret or the triumphal entry into
Jerusalem.
... Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings [1964]

_______________________________________________________________
[He said] that it was a great delusion to think that the
times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are
as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of
action as by prayer in the season of prayer. That his view of
prayer was nothing else but a sense of the Presence of God,
his soul being at that time insensible to everything but
Divine Love; and that when the appointed times of prayer were
past, he found no difference, because he still continued with
God, praising and blessing Him with all his might, so that he
passed his life in continual joy; yet hoped that God would
give him somewhat to suffer when he should have grown
stronger.
... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691)

_______________________________________________________________

We must never speak to simple, excitable people about "the
Day" without emphasizing again and again the utter
impossibility of prediction. We must try to show them that
that impossibility is an essential part of the doctrine. If
you do not believe our Lord's words, why do you believe in His
return at all? And if you do believe them, must you not put
away from you, utterly and forever, any hope of dating that
return?
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The World's Last Night

_______________________________________________________________
The now wherein God made the first man, and the now
wherein the last man disappears, and the now I am speaking in,
all are the same in God, where this is but the now.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?)

_______________________________________________________________
One kind word can warm three winter months.

Japanese Proverb
============================================

5:36 PM 6/20/2004

I will make love my greatest weapon and none on who I call can defend
against its force....My love will melt all hearts liken to the sun
whose rays soften the coldest day.

-- Og Mandino
-----------------------------

Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the
person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something
about it that makes a difference.

-- Nolan Bushnell
-----------------------------

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

-- David Viscott
-----------------------------

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

-- John F. Kennedy
-----------------------------

The higher type of man clings to virtue, the lower type of man clings
to material comfort. The higher type of man cherishes justice, the
lower type of man cherishes the hope of favors to be received.

-- Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher


-----------------------------

At first dreams seem impossible, then improbable, then inevitable.

-- Christopher Reeve (1952-) American Actor

-----------------------------

Confidence on the outside begins by living with integrity on the
inside.

-- Brian Tracy

-----------------------------

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in
our life, or in the life of another.

-- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer


-----------------------------

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows
with the ability to say no to oneself.

-- Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907-1972
-----------------------------

The truth is always better than the best dressed lie.

-- Ann Landers, born 1918

-----------------------------

If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice how he
acts when he loses money.

-- New England Proverb


-----------------------------

Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice.

-- John McCain
-----------------------------

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!

-- Jonathan Winters
-----------------------------

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous
circumstances, would have lain dormant.

-- Horace (65-8 BC) Roman Poet

-----------------------------

An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a
sheep.

-- Arab proverb

-----------------------------

Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what
makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn vos Savant 1946-NA


-----------------------------

Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice.

-- Stanley Horowitz
-----------------------------

Happiness is often the result of being too busy to be miserable.


-----------------------------

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize
they were the big things.

-- Robert Brault
-----------------------------

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help
them become what they are capable of becoming.

-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


-----------------------------

A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.

-- English proverb

-----------------------------

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover
ability in others is the true test.

-- Elbert Hubbard
-----------------------------

Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation – these are the great
values of life. We can’t prove them, or explain them, yet they are
the most stable things in our lives.

-- Jesse Herman Holmes
-----------------------------

Have the courage and the wisdom and the vision to raise a definite
standard that will appeal to the best that is in man, and then strive
mightily toward that goal.

-- Harold E. Stassen
-----------------------------

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly,
one-directionally, without regret or reservation.

-- William H. Sheldon


-----------------------------

Those who turn good (organizations) into great (organizations) are
motivated by a deep creative urge and an inner compulsion for sheer
unadulterated excellence for its own sake.

-- Jim Collins,

-----------------------------

Unswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear
conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way
to usefulness and high achievement.

-- Grover Cleveland

-----------------------------

There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the
hard truths and saying, "We will never give up. We will never
capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to
prevail."

-- Jim Collins, from his book, Good to Great
-----------------------------

A childlike man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on
the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of
continuing to develop long after most s have muffled themselves
in the cocoon of middle aged habit and convention.

-- Aldous Huxley

-----------------------------

The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart.

-- Mencius (371-291 B.C.)


-----------------------------

Absence diminishes commonplace passions and enhances great ones.

-- French Proverb


-----------------------------

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at
the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".

-- Anonymous

It is characteristic of the thinking of our time that the
problem of guilt and forgiveness has been pushed into the
background and seems to disappear more and more. Modern
thought is impersonal. There are, even today, a great many
people who understand that man needs salvation, but there are
very few who are convinced that he needs forgiveness and
redemption... Sin is understood as imperfection, ,
worldliness -- but not as guilt.
... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Word and the World
[1931]
--------------------------------------------------
basic principle in the interpretation of the Bible is
that one must first ask what a given Scripture was intended to
mean to the people for whom it was originally written; only
then is the interpreter free to ask what meaning it has for
Christians today. Failure to ask this primary question and to
investigate the historical setting of Scripture have prevented
many Christians from coming to a correct understanding of some
parts of the Bible. Nowhere is this more true than in respect
to the last book in the Bible. Here, there has been a singular
lack of appreciation for the historical background of the
book; the book has been interpreted as if it were primarily
written for the day in which the expositor lives (which is
usually thought to be the end time), rather than in terms of
what it meant to the first-century Christians of the Roman
province of Asia for whom it was originally written. This has
resulted in all sorts of grotesque and fantastic conclusions
of which the author of the Revelation and its early recipients
never would have dreamed.
... W. Ward Gasque, Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist
and New Testament Scholar [1966]

****************************************************************
We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once; and
that was to drive profane ones out of his Temple, not to force
them in.
... John Milton (1608-1674)

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If the [Incarnation] happened, it was the central event in
the history of the Earth—the very thing that the whole story
has been about. Since it happened only once, it is by Hume's
standards infinitely improbable. But then, the whole history
of the Earth has also happened only once: is it therefore
incredible? Hence the difficulty, which weighs upon Christian
and atheist alike, of estimating the probability of the
Incarnation. It is like asking whether the existence of nature
herself is intrinsically probable. That is why it is easier to
argue, on historical grounds, that the Incarnation actually
occurred than to show, on philosophical grounds, the
probability of its occurrence.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Miracles [1947]

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Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as
contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action
grows in powerless pietism, and action without prayer
degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads
us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will
always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete
acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with
the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed,
they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet
Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet
people, and in them the suffering Christ.
... Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), Compassion [1982]

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Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it
yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To
convince them, you must yourself believe.

Winston Churchill
(1874-1965, British Prime Minister)

============================================
Every time we say, 'I believe in the Holy Spirit,' we mean
that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to
enter human personality and change it.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Plain Christianity [1954]
[With thanks to Bill Blake at pilgrimwb@aol.com]

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No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.

St. Ambrose
(340-397, Bishop of Milan)

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I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I
cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.

Robert Brault
============================================

Man is only truly great when he acts from his passions.

Benjamin Disraeli
(1804-1881, British Statesman, Prime Minister)

============================================
Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has
decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how
it is possible in the nature of things for any revival of
religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily
produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but
produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger,
and love of the world in all its branches. How then is it
possible that Methodism, that is a religion of the heart,
though it flourishes now as the green bay tree, should continue
in this state? For the Methodists in every place grow diligent
and frugal; consequently, they increase in goods. Hence, they
proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of
the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. So,
although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly
vanishing away. Is there no way to prevent... this continual
decay of pure religion?
... John Wesley (1703-1791)

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In the long run, the pessimist may be proved to be right, but the
optimist has a better time on the trip.

Daniel L. Reardon
============================================
... for one good never clashes with another.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?)

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To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to
difficult achievement.

Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist)

============================================
The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about
whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation.

George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950, Irish-born British Dramatist)

============================================
We are all pencils in the hand of a writing God, who is
sending love letters to the world.
... Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (1910-1997)
[With thanks to Mervin W Koehlinger]

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The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking." -- C. Morley
-------------------------------------------------------

"I will go anywhere provided it is forward." -- D. Livingstone
============================================
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's
heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him
your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys,
that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may
purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you
conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may
shield you from them: show Him the wounds of your heart, that
He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your
depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-
love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be
insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles,
there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust
the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have
no secrets from each other never want for subjects of
conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is
nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to
say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without
consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they
who attain to such familiar, unreserved with God.
... François Fénelon (1651-1715)
[With thanks to Melissa Sargent at mmsarge@juno.com]

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God is often faulted for creating a world full of suffering
and evil. The issue is complex, both philosophically and
theologically; but surely it is inappropriate to blame God for
a problem He did not initiate, and [that is] in fact, one which
He has sought to alleviate, at great cost to Himself. God sent
His Son to inaugurate the Kingdom and to "destroy him who has
the power of , that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). God is
not the cause of suffering and sickness; He is its cure! Jesus'
ministry and guarantee this.
... George Mallone (1944- ), Those Controversial Gifts [1983]

_______________________________________________________________
In most parts of the Bible, everything is implicitly or
explicitly introduced with "Thus saith the Lord". It is... not
merely a sacred book but a book so remorselessly and
continuously sacred that it does not invite -- it excludes or
repels -- the merely aesthetic approach. You can read it as
literature only by a tour de force... It demands incessantly
to be taken on its own terms: it will not continue to give
literary delight very long, except to those who go to it for
something quite different. I predict that it will in the
future be read, as it always has been read, almost exclusively
by Christians.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), They Asked for a Paper

_______________________________________________________________
It seems to me that testimonies should once again become a
part of the life of our churches. I have not made a study of
why the testimony fell into disrepute and was discarded, but I
suspect these were three of the factors:
(1) The same persons gave the testimony every time.
(2) They gave the same testimony every time.
(3) The testimony they gave was about something that
happened ten, or twenty, or thirty years before.
... Findley B. Edge (1916-2002),
The Greening of the Church [1971]

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Inward rest... gives an air of leisure to [Christ's]
crowded life: above all, there is in this Man a secret and a
power of dealing with the waste-products of life, the waste of
pain, disappointment, enmity, -- turning to divine uses
the abuses of man, transforming arid places of pain to
fruitfulness, triumphing at last in , and making a short
life of thirty years or so, abruptly cut off, to be a
"finished" life. We cannot admire the poise and beauty of this
human life, and then ignore the things that made it.
... A. E. Whitham (1879-1938),
The Discipline and Culture of the Spiritual Life [1938]

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If thou believest that Christ was crucified for the sins of
the world, thou must with Him be crucified... If thou refusest
to comply with this order, thou canst not be a living member of
Christ, nor be united with Him by faith.
... John Arndt (1555-1621)

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One who receives this Word, and by it salvation, receives
along with it the duty of passing this Word on... Where there
is no mission, there is no Church, and where there is neither
Church nor mission, there is no faith.
... Emil Brunner (1889-1966)

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If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have
found out that it has no meaning -- just as, if there were no
light in the universe, and therefore no creatures with eyes, we
should never know that it was dark. Dark would be without
meaning.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
**********************************
In religion, we are not asked to make up our minds, we are
asked to make up our lives... We may refuse to make up our
minds, but our lives get made up, one way or the other...
Whatever we believe with our minds, our lives are committed
either to God's way or to the God-denying way, and what
matters in religion is the act of commitment.
... A. Leonard Griffith (1920- ),
Barriers to Christian Belief [1962]

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The ordinary historian would probably not condemn the
spirit of Laodicea so strenuously as St. John did. In the
tendency of the Laodiceans towards a policy of compromise he
would probably see a tendency towards toleration and
allowance, which indicated a certain sound practical sense,
and showed that the various constituents of the population of
Laodicea were well mixed and evenly balanced. He would regard
its somewhat featureless character and its easy regular
development as proving that it was a happy and well-ordered
city, in whose constitution "the elements were kindlier mixed"
than in any other city of Asia. He would consider probably
that its success as a commercial city was the just reward of
the strong common sense which characterised its people. St.
John, however, was not one of those who regarded a successful
career in trade and money-making as the best proof of the
higher qualities of citizenship. The very characteristics
which made Laodicea a well-ordered, energetic, and pushing
centre of trade, seemed to him to evince a coldness of nature
that was to the highest side of human character, the
spirit of self-sacrifice and enthusiasm.
... Sir W. M. Ramsay (1851-1939), The Letters to the Seven
Churches [1904]

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You can do one of two things; just shut up, which is something I
don't find easy, or learn an awful lot very fast, which is what I tried
to do.

Jane Fonda
(American Actress)

============================================
oscar ragus (6/13/2004 8:22:57 PM)

"What is irritating about love is that it is a crime that requires an accomplice" -- C. Baudelaire

*********************************************
oscar ragus (6/13/2004 8:23:28 PM)

"If ambition doesn't hurt you, you haven't got it." --K. Norris
******************************************

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)

============================================
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
============================================
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
============================================
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)

============================================
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)

============================================
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)

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

_______________________________________________________________

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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