Every moment and every situation challenges us to action
and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and
ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbor or not. We
must get into action and obey -- we must behave like a neighbor
to him. But perhaps this shocks you. Perhaps you still think
you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to
do. To that, there is only one answer. You can only know and
think about it by actually doing it. It is no use asking
questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to
learn the truth.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship
When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God
looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
To put it shortly, the Church forgets that Christianity is
not an attitude of mind, but a type of life: a man's spirit is
not known by his opinion, but by his action and general
conduct.
... William Temple (1881-1944)
_______________________________________________________________
During the last year or so, I have come to appreciate the
"worldliness" of Christianity as never before. The Christian
is not a homo religiosus but a man, pure and simple, just as
Jesus became man... It is only by living completely in this
world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every
attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a
converted sinner, a churchman, a righteous man, or an
unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one... This is what I
mean by worldliness -- taking life in one's stride, with all
its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its
experiences and helplessness... How can success make us
arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the
sufferings of God by living in this world?
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945),
Letters and Papers from Prison
_______________________________________________________________
If there were a righteousness which a man could have of his
own, then we should have to concern ourselves with the question
of how it can be imparted to him. But there is not. The idea
of a righteousness of one's own is the quintessence of sin.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998)
_______________________________________________________________
The most dangerous man in the world is the contemplative
who is guided by nobody. He trusts his own visions. He obeys
the attractions of an interior voice but will not listen to
other men. He identifies the will of God with anything that
makes him feel, within his own heart, a big, warm, sweet
interior glow. The sweeter and the warmer the feeling is, the
more he is convinced of his own infallibility.
... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Seeds of Contemplation [1949]
_______________________________________________________________
Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and
before whom we humble ourselves without despair.
... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées
_______________________________________________________________
A man can not be "friends with" God on any other terms than
complete obedience to Him, and that includes being "friends
with" his fellow man. Christ stated emphatically that it was
quite impossible, in the nature of things, for a man to be at
peace with God and at variance with his neighbor. This
disquieting fact is often hushed up, but it is undeniable that
Christ said it, and the truth of it is enshrined in the
petition for forgiveness in the "Lord's Prayer."
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Your God is Too Small [1953]
_______________________________________________________________
We think of the early sacrifices of those early Christians;
but what struck them was the immensity of their inheritance in
Christ. Take that one phrase (surely the most daring that the
mind of man ever conceived), "We are the heirs of God." That
is what they felt about it, that not God Himself could have a
fuller life than theirs, and that even He would share all that
He had with them! Tremendous words that stagger through their
sheer audacity! And yet, here we are, whispering about the
steepness of the way, the soreness of the self-denial, the
heaviness of the cross, whining and puling, giving to those
outside the utterly grotesque impression that religion is a
gloomy kind of thing, a dim, monastic twilight where we sit and
shiver miserably, out of the sunshine that God made for us, and
meant us to enjoy -- that it is all a doing that nobody would
naturally choose, and refraining from what everyone would
naturally take: a species of insurance money grudgingly doled
out lest some worse thing come upon us.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954),
From the Edge of the Crowd [1924]
_______________________________________________________________
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)
_______________________________________________________________
There is joy and strength, of course, in this holy food and
drink, but it is also an inevitable joining forces with the
vast Scheme of reconciliation and redemption. Now there is
something in our natural selves that may well make us wary of
such a contact. The man who in his heart intends to go on
being selfish or proud, or who has already decided how far his
Christian convictions should carry him, is probably obeying a
sound instinct when he keeps away from this glorious but
perilous Sacrament. For, if the truth be told, men are often
willing to put their trust in a god who in the end must be
triumphant, simply because they want to be on the winning side;
but they are not nearly so ready to bear any part of the cost
of that winning. Yet the fellowship of the broken bread and
the poured-out wine can mean no less than that.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Appointment with God [1956]
_______________________________________________________________
Faith is the soul's consciousness of its Divine
relationship and exalted destiny. It is the recognition by
man's higher nature of sources of comfort and hope beyond
anything that sense-knowledge discloses. It is the
consciousness of a Divine Father toward Whom goes out all that
is in affection and highest in moral aspiration; it is the
premonition of a future life of which the best attainment here
is but the twilight promise. In our day, the sudden and vast
revelation of material wonders unsteadies and dims for the
moment the spiritual sight; but the stars will shine clear
again.
The truth-seeking spirit and the spirit of faith, instead
of being opposed, are in the deepest harmony. The man whose
faith is most genuine is most willing to have its assertions
tested by the severest scrutiny. And the passion for truth has
underlying it a profound conviction that what is real is best;
that when we get to the heart of things we shall find there
what we most need. Faith is false to itself when it dreads
truth, and the desire for truth is prompted by an inner voice
of faith.
... George Springs Merriam (1843-1914), A Living Faith [1876]
_______________________________________________________________
Consider yourself as always wrong, as having gone aside,
and lost your right path, when any delight, desire, or trouble,
is suffered to live in you, that cannot be made a part of this
prayer of the heart to God. For nothing so infallibly shows us
the true state of our heart, as that which gives us either
delight or trouble; for as our delight and trouble is, so is
the state of our heart: if therefore you are carried away with
any trouble or delight, that has not an immediate relation to
your progress in the divine life, you may be assured your heart
is not in its right state of prayer to God. [Continued
tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749]
_______________________________________________________________
The way to be a man of prayer, and be governed by its
spirit, is not to get a book full of prayers; but the best help
you can have from a book, is to read one full of such truths,
instructions, and awakening informations, as force you to see
and know who, and what, and where, you are; that God is your
all; and that all is misery, but a heart and life devoted to
him. This is the best outward prayer book you can have, as it
will turn you to an inward book, and spirit of prayer in your
heart, which is a continual longing desire of the heart after
God, his divine life, and Holy Spirit. When, for the sake of
this inward prayer, you retire at any time of the day, never
begin till you know and feel, why and wherefore you are going
to pray; and let this why and wherefore, form and direct
everything that comes from you, whether it be in thought or in
word. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749]
_______________________________________________________________
No vice can harbor in you, no infirmity take any root, no
good desire can languish, when once your heart is in this
method of prayer; never beginning to pray, till you first see
how matters stand with you; asking your heart what it wants,
and having nothing in your prayers, but what the known state of
your heart puts you upon demanding, saying, or offering, unto
God. A quarter of an hour of this prayer, brings you out of
your closet a new man; your heart feels the good of it; and
every return of such a prayer, gives new life and growth to all
your virtues, with more certainty, than the dew refreshes the
herbs of the field: whereas, overlooking this true prayer of
your own heart, and only at certain times taking a prayer that
you find in a book, you have nothing to wonder at, if you are
every day praying, and yet every day sinking further and
further under all your infirmities. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749]
_______________________________________________________________
For your heart is your life, and your life can only be
altered by that which is the real working of your heart. And
if your prayer is only a form of words, made by the skill of
other people, such a prayer can no more change you into a good
man, than an actor upon the stage, who speaks kingly language,
is thereby made to be a king: whereas one thought, or word, or
look, towards God, proceeding from your own heart, can never be
without its proper fruit, or fail of doing a real good to your
soul. Again, another great and infallible benefit of this kind
of prayer is this; it is the only way to be delivered from the
deceitfulness of your own hearts. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749]
_______________________________________________________________
Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Margaret Lee Runback
============================================
I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people
convinced that they are about to change the world, I am more awed by
those
who struggle to make one small difference after another.
Ellen Goodman
(American Journalist)
============================================
Monday, March 01, 2004
A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our
actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far
from being dull and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts
in everything that we do.
... William Law (1686-1761)
_______________________________________________________________
As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the
patient, so the great test of preaching is that it converts and
builds up the hearers.
... Herman L. Wayland (1830-1898)
_______________________________________________________________
Jeremiah refutes the popular, modern notion that the end of
religion is an integrated personality, freed of its fears, its
doubts, and its frustrations. Certainly Jeremiah was no
integrated personality. It is doubtful if... he ever knew the
meaning of the word "peace". We have no evidence that his
internal struggle was ever ended, although the passing years no
doubt brought an increasing acceptance of destiny. Jeremiah,
if his "confessions" are any index, needed a course in pastoral
psychiatry in the very worst way... The feeling cannot be
escaped that if Jeremiah had been integrated, it would have
been at the cost of ceasing to be Jeremiah! A man at peace
simply could not be a Jeremiah. Spiritual health is good;
mental assurance is good; but the summons of faith is neither
to an integrated personality nor to the laying-by of all
questions, but to the dedication of personality -- with all its
fears and questions -- to its duty and destiny under God.
... John Bright, The Kingdom of God [1955]
_______________________________________________________________
It is common to hear churchmen speak as though they did not
really regard Christian unity as a serious question this side
of the End. This is a disastrous illusion. Christians cannot
behave as though time were unreal. God gives us time, but not
an infinite amount of time. It is His purpose that the Gospel
should be preached to all nations, and that all men should be
brought into one family in Jesus Christ. His purpose looks to
a real End, and therefore requires of us real decisions. If we
misconstrue His patience, and think that there is an infinity
of time for debate while we perpetuate before the world the
scandal of our dismemberment of the Body of Christ, we deceive
ourselves. In an issue regarding the doing of the will of God
there is no final neutrality.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998),
The Reunion of the Church [1960]
_______________________________________________________________
Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, Fénelon -- that is to say,
some of the most enlightened men on earth, in the most
philosophical of all ages -- have been believers in Jesus
Christ; and the great Condé, when dying, repeated these noble
words, "Yes, I shall see God as He is, face to face!"
... Luc de Clapier, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747)
_______________________________________________________________
As the wife of a state Supreme Court justice in Arkansas
put it, "My husband has been a Methodist all his life, but if
it comes to choosing between being a Methodist and an American,
he'll be an American every time." But this was not the issue,
quite. In this case the choice was between being a good
Methodist and a good American, and being a tribal religionist.
But the theological problem of churches without discipline
comes into stark outline in the quotation. Inadequately
trained for membership, admitted without preparatory training,
without the proper instruments of voluntary discipline, many
members have never had the discontinuity between life in Christ
and life in the world brought home to them. Here the ordinary
members are less at fault than the leadership of the churches,
who -- though sworn to uphold the form of sound words and
doctrine -- neglect catechetical instruction and concentrate
solely on the acquisition of more new members at any price.
... Franklin H. Littell (1917- ),
From State Church to Pluralism [1962]
_______________________________________________________________
How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will
have
been all of these.
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943, American Scientist)
============================================
The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.
Rabindranath Tagore
((1861-1941) Bengali poet, novelist, composer.)
=====================================
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the
greatest of things without it.
Carl Jung
(1875-1961, Swiss Psychiatrist)
============================================
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your
own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
George Washington
(1732-1799, First President of the USA)
============================================
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know
that everything in this life has a purpose.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
(1926-, Swiss-born American Psychiatrist)
============================================
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are
always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist)
============================================
Alexander Mclaren said, "You tell me the depth of a christian's compassion, and i will tell
you the measure of his usefulness".
C. H. Spurgeon said, "Winners of souls must first be weepers of souls".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the
lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope.
Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)
============================================
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for
aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are
open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take
with it.
Fulton J. Sheen
(1895-1979)
============================================
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your
duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist)
============================================
Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't
forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!
Bible, Hebrews 13:1
============================================
Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to
achievement. One fails forward toward success.
Charles F. Kettering
(1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor)
============================================
The most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable
order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to
penetrate to the investigation of His essence, which we ought
more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to
contemplate Him in His works, whereby He renders Himself near
and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates Himself.
... John Calvin (1509-1564)
_______________________________________________________________
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to
delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?
Rose F. Kennedy
(1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy)
============================================
Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you;
give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially
to those you don't want to give. You will receive abundance for your
giving. The more you give, the more you will have!
W. Clement Stone
(1902-, American Businessman, Author)
============================================
As we advanced in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in
fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is
developed.
Vincent van Gogh
(1853-1890, Dutch Painter)
============================================
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a
cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.
Benjamin Spock
(1903-, American Pediatrician)
============================================
Perfection does not consist in the knowledge of God's
order, but in submission to it. The order of God, the good
pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, grace --
all these are one and the same thing in this life. Perfection
is nothing else than the faithful cooperation of the soul with
the work of God. This ultimate purpose of our life grows and
increases in our souls secretly and without our knowledge.
... J. P. de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment
_______________________________________________________________
All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is
lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.
Adolfo Prieto
(1867-1945, Humanitarian)
============================================
I will tell you what to hate: hate hypocrisy, hate cant,
hate intolerance, oppression, injustice; hate pharisaism. Hate
them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.
... F. W. Robertson
_______________________________________________________________
Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that
beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures
on the window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces.
Soren Kierkegaard
============================================
Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification; and as
without this, without holiness, no man shall see God, though he
pore whole nights upon his Bible; so without that, without
humility, no man shall hear God speak to his soul, though he
hear three two-hour sermons every day.
... John Donne (1573-1631)
_______________________________________________________________
Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?
Frank Scully
============================================
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for
the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be
content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not
holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are
found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word
can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471),
Of the Imitation of Christ [1418]
_______________________________________________________________
Power consists in one's capacity to link his will with the
purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.
Woodrow T. Wilson
(1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA)
============================================
All theological language is necessarily analogical, but it
was singularly unfortunate that the Church, in speaking of
punishment for sin, should have chosen the analogy of criminal
law, for the analogy is incompatible with the Christian belief
in God as the creator of Man. Criminal laws are laws, imposed
on men, who are already in existence, with or without their
consent, and, with the possible exception of capital punishment
for murder, there is no logical relation between the nature of
a crime and the penalty inflicted for committing it. If God
created man, then the laws of man's spiritual nature must, like
the laws of his physical nature, be laws -- laws, that is to
say, which he is free to defy but no more free to break than he
can break the law of gravity by jumping out of the window, or
the laws of biochemistry by getting drunk -- and the
consequences of defying them must be as inevitable and as
intrinsically related to their nature as a broken leg or a
hangover. To state spiritual laws in the imperative -- Thou
shalt love God with all thy being, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself -- is simply a pedagogical technique, as when a
mother says to her small son, "Stay away from the window!"
because the child does not yet know what will happen if he
falls out of it.
... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World [1971]
_______________________________________________________________
actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far
from being dull and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts
in everything that we do.
... William Law (1686-1761)
_______________________________________________________________
As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the
patient, so the great test of preaching is that it converts and
builds up the hearers.
... Herman L. Wayland (1830-1898)
_______________________________________________________________
Jeremiah refutes the popular, modern notion that the end of
religion is an integrated personality, freed of its fears, its
doubts, and its frustrations. Certainly Jeremiah was no
integrated personality. It is doubtful if... he ever knew the
meaning of the word "peace". We have no evidence that his
internal struggle was ever ended, although the passing years no
doubt brought an increasing acceptance of destiny. Jeremiah,
if his "confessions" are any index, needed a course in pastoral
psychiatry in the very worst way... The feeling cannot be
escaped that if Jeremiah had been integrated, it would have
been at the cost of ceasing to be Jeremiah! A man at peace
simply could not be a Jeremiah. Spiritual health is good;
mental assurance is good; but the summons of faith is neither
to an integrated personality nor to the laying-by of all
questions, but to the dedication of personality -- with all its
fears and questions -- to its duty and destiny under God.
... John Bright, The Kingdom of God [1955]
_______________________________________________________________
It is common to hear churchmen speak as though they did not
really regard Christian unity as a serious question this side
of the End. This is a disastrous illusion. Christians cannot
behave as though time were unreal. God gives us time, but not
an infinite amount of time. It is His purpose that the Gospel
should be preached to all nations, and that all men should be
brought into one family in Jesus Christ. His purpose looks to
a real End, and therefore requires of us real decisions. If we
misconstrue His patience, and think that there is an infinity
of time for debate while we perpetuate before the world the
scandal of our dismemberment of the Body of Christ, we deceive
ourselves. In an issue regarding the doing of the will of God
there is no final neutrality.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998),
The Reunion of the Church [1960]
_______________________________________________________________
Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, Fénelon -- that is to say,
some of the most enlightened men on earth, in the most
philosophical of all ages -- have been believers in Jesus
Christ; and the great Condé, when dying, repeated these noble
words, "Yes, I shall see God as He is, face to face!"
... Luc de Clapier, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747)
_______________________________________________________________
As the wife of a state Supreme Court justice in Arkansas
put it, "My husband has been a Methodist all his life, but if
it comes to choosing between being a Methodist and an American,
he'll be an American every time." But this was not the issue,
quite. In this case the choice was between being a good
Methodist and a good American, and being a tribal religionist.
But the theological problem of churches without discipline
comes into stark outline in the quotation. Inadequately
trained for membership, admitted without preparatory training,
without the proper instruments of voluntary discipline, many
members have never had the discontinuity between life in Christ
and life in the world brought home to them. Here the ordinary
members are less at fault than the leadership of the churches,
who -- though sworn to uphold the form of sound words and
doctrine -- neglect catechetical instruction and concentrate
solely on the acquisition of more new members at any price.
... Franklin H. Littell (1917- ),
From State Church to Pluralism [1962]
_______________________________________________________________
How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will
have
been all of these.
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943, American Scientist)
============================================
The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.
Rabindranath Tagore
((1861-1941) Bengali poet, novelist, composer.)
=====================================
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the
greatest of things without it.
Carl Jung
(1875-1961, Swiss Psychiatrist)
============================================
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your
own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
George Washington
(1732-1799, First President of the USA)
============================================
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know
that everything in this life has a purpose.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
(1926-, Swiss-born American Psychiatrist)
============================================
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are
always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist)
============================================
Alexander Mclaren said, "You tell me the depth of a christian's compassion, and i will tell
you the measure of his usefulness".
C. H. Spurgeon said, "Winners of souls must first be weepers of souls".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the
lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope.
Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)
============================================
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for
aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are
open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take
with it.
Fulton J. Sheen
(1895-1979)
============================================
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your
duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist)
============================================
Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't
forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!
Bible, Hebrews 13:1
============================================
Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to
achievement. One fails forward toward success.
Charles F. Kettering
(1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor)
============================================
The most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable
order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to
penetrate to the investigation of His essence, which we ought
more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to
contemplate Him in His works, whereby He renders Himself near
and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates Himself.
... John Calvin (1509-1564)
_______________________________________________________________
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to
delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?
Rose F. Kennedy
(1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy)
============================================
Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you;
give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially
to those you don't want to give. You will receive abundance for your
giving. The more you give, the more you will have!
W. Clement Stone
(1902-, American Businessman, Author)
============================================
As we advanced in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in
fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is
developed.
Vincent van Gogh
(1853-1890, Dutch Painter)
============================================
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a
cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.
Benjamin Spock
(1903-, American Pediatrician)
============================================
Perfection does not consist in the knowledge of God's
order, but in submission to it. The order of God, the good
pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, grace --
all these are one and the same thing in this life. Perfection
is nothing else than the faithful cooperation of the soul with
the work of God. This ultimate purpose of our life grows and
increases in our souls secretly and without our knowledge.
... J. P. de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment
_______________________________________________________________
All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is
lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.
Adolfo Prieto
(1867-1945, Humanitarian)
============================================
I will tell you what to hate: hate hypocrisy, hate cant,
hate intolerance, oppression, injustice; hate pharisaism. Hate
them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.
... F. W. Robertson
_______________________________________________________________
Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that
beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures
on the window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces.
Soren Kierkegaard
============================================
Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification; and as
without this, without holiness, no man shall see God, though he
pore whole nights upon his Bible; so without that, without
humility, no man shall hear God speak to his soul, though he
hear three two-hour sermons every day.
... John Donne (1573-1631)
_______________________________________________________________
Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?
Frank Scully
============================================
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for
the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be
content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not
holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are
found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word
can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471),
Of the Imitation of Christ [1418]
_______________________________________________________________
Power consists in one's capacity to link his will with the
purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.
Woodrow T. Wilson
(1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA)
============================================
All theological language is necessarily analogical, but it
was singularly unfortunate that the Church, in speaking of
punishment for sin, should have chosen the analogy of criminal
law, for the analogy is incompatible with the Christian belief
in God as the creator of Man. Criminal laws are laws, imposed
on men, who are already in existence, with or without their
consent, and, with the possible exception of capital punishment
for murder, there is no logical relation between the nature of
a crime and the penalty inflicted for committing it. If God
created man, then the laws of man's spiritual nature must, like
the laws of his physical nature, be laws -- laws, that is to
say, which he is free to defy but no more free to break than he
can break the law of gravity by jumping out of the window, or
the laws of biochemistry by getting drunk -- and the
consequences of defying them must be as inevitable and as
intrinsically related to their nature as a broken leg or a
hangover. To state spiritual laws in the imperative -- Thou
shalt love God with all thy being, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself -- is simply a pedagogical technique, as when a
mother says to her small son, "Stay away from the window!"
because the child does not yet know what will happen if he
falls out of it.
... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World [1971]
_______________________________________________________________
Friday, February 20, 2004
2:09 PM 2/20/2004
-----------------------------
In work, the greatest satisfaction lies - the satisfaction of
stretching yourself, using your abilities and making them expand, and
knowing that you have accomplished something that could have been
done only by your unique apparatus. This is really the center of
life, and those who never orient themselves in this direction are
missing more than they ever know.
-- Kenneth Alsop (1920-1973)
-----------------------------
Nothing is more endangered in the modern world than the powerful
combination of hard work toward meaningful goals joined with an
exuberant embrace of the present moment.
-- Tom Morris
-----------------------------
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
-- Confucius (Chinese Philosopher) 551-479 B.C.
-----------------------------
There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down,
the other is pulling up.
-- Booker T. Washington
-----------------------------
Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far
higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- F. Hawes
-----------------------------
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great
temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the
real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being
decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you
shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made
except by a steady, long continued process.
-- Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American Bishop
-----------------------------
If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read
some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week.
-- Charles Darwin
-----------------------------
Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or
architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
-- Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English Writer
-----------------------------
"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything: "I will try" has
accomplished wonders.
-- George P. Burnham
-----------------------------
Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our
courage and strength.
-- Anonymous
-----------------------------
There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which
lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles
up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
-- Washington Irving (1783-1859) American Writer
-----------------------------
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but
progress.
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher
-----------------------------
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act
rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have
those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
-- Aristotle
-----------------------------
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.
-- William Morrow
-----------------------------
If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of
the world, and his heart is no island, cut off from other islands,
but a continent that joins them.
-- Francis Bacon
-----------------------------
It is better to say, "This one thing I do" than to say, "These forty
things I dabble in."
-- Washington Gladden
-----------------------------
Children need models rather than critics.
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher
-----------------------------
Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of
courage and true progress.
-- Nicholas Murray Butler
-----------------------------
I don't like work... but I like what is in work -- the chance to find
yourself. Your own reality -- for yourself, not for others -- which
no other man can ever know.
-- Joseph Conrad
-----------------------------
The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They
believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ablility to
correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.
-- Wang Yang-Ming (1472-1529) Chinese Philosopher
-----------------------------
A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing; Every day we
ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let me
make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught!
-- Thomas A. Kempis
-----------------------------
If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire
better than another, it is a brave man, -- it is the man who dares to
look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
-- James A. Garfield
-----------------------------
The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form
of a resolution, is the key-note of my life. It is this, always to
regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed
upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should
not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like
Aaron's rod, with flowers.
-- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer
-----------------------------
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected
without trials.
-- Chinese proverb
-----------------------------
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not
waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
-- Jack London
-----------------------------
Every man has an obscure respect for courage in others, especially if
it is moral courage, the rarest and most difficult sort of bravery...
It makes the very brute understand that this man is more than a man.
-- Passage from Life of Christ
-----------------------------
None will improve your lot If you yourself do not.
-- Bertolt Brecht, 1933
-----------------------------
In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong;
honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like
dead leaves when their time comes.
-- John Ruskin (1819-1900) English Art Critic
-----------------------------
Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he
ought to do in circumstances confronting him.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas
-----------------------------
Employment gives health, sobriety, and morals. Constant employment
and well-paid labor produce general prosperity, content, and
cheerfulness.
-- Daniel Webster
-----------------------------
Not the owner of many possessions will you be right to call happy: he
more rightly deserves the name of happy who knows how to use the
Gods' gifts wisely and to put up with rough poverty, and who fears
dishonor more than death.
-- Horace (65-8 BC) Roman Poet
-----------------------------
It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected
of him.
-- John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American Novelist
-----------------------------
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or
measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.
-- Donald A. Adams
-----------------------------
I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what
has to be done to the best of my ability. And when you've done the
best you can you can't do any better.
-- Harry S. Truman
-----------------------------
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being
cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared.
It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure footedness
that comes with having proved you can meet life.
-- Ann Landers, born 1918
-----------------------------
Judgement comes from experience, and great judgement comes from bad
experience.
-- Robert Packwood
-----------------------------
Every man stamps his value on himself... man is made great or small
by his own will.
-- J.C.F. von Schiller
-----------------------------
Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional
glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful
scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.
-- Harold B. Melchart
-----------------------------
The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice
what we are for what we could become.
-- Charles Du Bos
-----------------------------
The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.
-- J. Harold Wilkins
-----------------------------
Enthusiasm is the best protection in any situation. Wholeheartedness
is contagious. Give yourself, if you wish to get others.
-- David Seabury
-----------------------------
Our real duty is always found running in the direction of our
worthiest desires.
-- Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) American Writer
-----------------------------
In work, the greatest satisfaction lies - the satisfaction of
stretching yourself, using your abilities and making them expand, and
knowing that you have accomplished something that could have been
done only by your unique apparatus. This is really the center of
life, and those who never orient themselves in this direction are
missing more than they ever know.
-- Kenneth Alsop (1920-1973)
-----------------------------
Nothing is more endangered in the modern world than the powerful
combination of hard work toward meaningful goals joined with an
exuberant embrace of the present moment.
-- Tom Morris
-----------------------------
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
-- Confucius (Chinese Philosopher) 551-479 B.C.
-----------------------------
There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down,
the other is pulling up.
-- Booker T. Washington
-----------------------------
Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far
higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.
-- F. Hawes
-----------------------------
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great
temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the
real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being
decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you
shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made
except by a steady, long continued process.
-- Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American Bishop
-----------------------------
If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read
some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week.
-- Charles Darwin
-----------------------------
Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or
architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
-- Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English Writer
-----------------------------
"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything: "I will try" has
accomplished wonders.
-- George P. Burnham
-----------------------------
Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our
courage and strength.
-- Anonymous
-----------------------------
There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which
lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles
up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
-- Washington Irving (1783-1859) American Writer
-----------------------------
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but
progress.
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher
-----------------------------
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act
rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have
those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
-- Aristotle
-----------------------------
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.
-- William Morrow
-----------------------------
If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of
the world, and his heart is no island, cut off from other islands,
but a continent that joins them.
-- Francis Bacon
-----------------------------
It is better to say, "This one thing I do" than to say, "These forty
things I dabble in."
-- Washington Gladden
-----------------------------
Children need models rather than critics.
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French Philosopher
-----------------------------
Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of
courage and true progress.
-- Nicholas Murray Butler
-----------------------------
I don't like work... but I like what is in work -- the chance to find
yourself. Your own reality -- for yourself, not for others -- which
no other man can ever know.
-- Joseph Conrad
-----------------------------
The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They
believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ablility to
correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.
-- Wang Yang-Ming (1472-1529) Chinese Philosopher
-----------------------------
A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing; Every day we
ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let me
make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught!
-- Thomas A. Kempis
-----------------------------
If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire
better than another, it is a brave man, -- it is the man who dares to
look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
-- James A. Garfield
-----------------------------
The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form
of a resolution, is the key-note of my life. It is this, always to
regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed
upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should
not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like
Aaron's rod, with flowers.
-- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer
-----------------------------
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected
without trials.
-- Chinese proverb
-----------------------------
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not
waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
-- Jack London
-----------------------------
Every man has an obscure respect for courage in others, especially if
it is moral courage, the rarest and most difficult sort of bravery...
It makes the very brute understand that this man is more than a man.
-- Passage from Life of Christ
-----------------------------
None will improve your lot If you yourself do not.
-- Bertolt Brecht, 1933
-----------------------------
In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong;
honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like
dead leaves when their time comes.
-- John Ruskin (1819-1900) English Art Critic
-----------------------------
Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he
ought to do in circumstances confronting him.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas
-----------------------------
Employment gives health, sobriety, and morals. Constant employment
and well-paid labor produce general prosperity, content, and
cheerfulness.
-- Daniel Webster
-----------------------------
Not the owner of many possessions will you be right to call happy: he
more rightly deserves the name of happy who knows how to use the
Gods' gifts wisely and to put up with rough poverty, and who fears
dishonor more than death.
-- Horace (65-8 BC) Roman Poet
-----------------------------
It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected
of him.
-- John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American Novelist
-----------------------------
To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or
measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.
-- Donald A. Adams
-----------------------------
I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what
has to be done to the best of my ability. And when you've done the
best you can you can't do any better.
-- Harry S. Truman
-----------------------------
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being
cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared.
It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure footedness
that comes with having proved you can meet life.
-- Ann Landers, born 1918
-----------------------------
Judgement comes from experience, and great judgement comes from bad
experience.
-- Robert Packwood
-----------------------------
Every man stamps his value on himself... man is made great or small
by his own will.
-- J.C.F. von Schiller
-----------------------------
Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional
glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful
scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.
-- Harold B. Melchart
-----------------------------
The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice
what we are for what we could become.
-- Charles Du Bos
-----------------------------
The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.
-- J. Harold Wilkins
-----------------------------
Enthusiasm is the best protection in any situation. Wholeheartedness
is contagious. Give yourself, if you wish to get others.
-- David Seabury
-----------------------------
Our real duty is always found running in the direction of our
worthiest desires.
-- Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) American Writer
Thursday, January 22, 2004
That no obedience but a perfect one will satisfy God, I
hold with all my heart and strength; but that there is none
else that He cares for, is one of the lies of the enemy. What
father is not pleased with the first tottering attempt of his
little one to walk? What father would be satisfied with
anything but the manly step of the full-grown son?
... George Macdonald (1824-1905),
"The Way", from Unspoken Sermons, second series [1885]
*********************************
Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the
standards and ods of the surrounding world. In these days
when power and size and speed are almost universally admired,
it seems to me particularly important to study afresh the
"weakness", the "smallness of entry", and the "slowness" of God
as He begins His vast work of reconstructing His disordered
world. We are all tempted to take short cuts, to work for
quick results, and to evade painful sacrifice. It is therefore
essential that we should look again at love incarnate in a
human being, to see God Himself at work within the limitations
of human personality, and to base our ods on what we see
Him do.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole [1952]
_______________________________________________________________
What fellowship means in material matters is made very
plain. Every man is to work for his living. "If a man will
not work, neither let him eat." But those who cannot work are
to be provided for out of the common fund. Old and helpless
persons who have relations of their own should, indeed, find
support from them and not be forced to come upon the Church;
but for the resourceless the Church must provide. And those
who are rich and who earn more than enough to support their own
families are to be willing contributors to the common fund.
The love of money -- the desire to accumulate wealth -- is the
root of every kind of evil. The relation of one to another is
to be that of members in one body, in which, if one member
suffers, all the members suffer with it.
... Charles Gore (1853-1932), Christ and Society [1928]
_______________________________________________________________
Some go to the light of nature and the use of "right
reason" (that is, their own) as their guides; and some add the
additional documents of the philosophers. They think a saying
of Epictetus, or Seneca, or Arrianus, being wittily suited to
their fancies and affections, to have more life and power in it
than any precept of the Gospel. The reason why these things
are more pleasing unto them than the commands and instructions
of Christ is because, proceeding from the spring of natural
light, they are suited to the workings of natural fancy and
understanding; but those of Christ, proceeding from the
fountain of eternal spiritual light, are not comprehended in
their beauty and excellency without a principle of the same
light in us, guiding our understanding and influencing our
affections. Hence, take any precept, general or particular,
about moral duties, that is materially the same in the writings
of philosophers and in the doctrine of the Gospel; not a few
prefer it as delivered in the first way before the latter.
... John Owen (1616-1683),
A Discourse upon the Holy Spirit [1674]
_______________________________________________________________
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do
are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948, Indian Political, Spiritual Leader)
============================================
Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his
brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of
equality.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
============================================
Things are only impossible until they're not.
Jean-Luc Picard
( 'Star Trek: The Next Generation')
============================================
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot
do.
Walter Bagehot
============================================
We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for
it is impossible to live one way and pray another.
... William Law (1686-1761)
_______________________________________________________________
I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of
ignorance.
Adlai E. Stevenson
(1900-1965, American Lawyer, Politician)
============================================
I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the
course of the year to a great bundle of fagots, far too large
for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole
at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first
one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which
we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily
manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for each
day; but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying
yesterday's stick over again today, and adding tomorrow's
burden to the load, before we are required to bear it.
... John Newton (1725-1807)
_______________________________________________________________
The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness; and knows
that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
Kahlil Gibran
(1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Novelist)
============================================
hold with all my heart and strength; but that there is none
else that He cares for, is one of the lies of the enemy. What
father is not pleased with the first tottering attempt of his
little one to walk? What father would be satisfied with
anything but the manly step of the full-grown son?
... George Macdonald (1824-1905),
"The Way", from Unspoken Sermons, second series [1885]
*********************************
Most Christians are affected far more than they know by the
standards and ods of the surrounding world. In these days
when power and size and speed are almost universally admired,
it seems to me particularly important to study afresh the
"weakness", the "smallness of entry", and the "slowness" of God
as He begins His vast work of reconstructing His disordered
world. We are all tempted to take short cuts, to work for
quick results, and to evade painful sacrifice. It is therefore
essential that we should look again at love incarnate in a
human being, to see God Himself at work within the limitations
of human personality, and to base our ods on what we see
Him do.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole [1952]
_______________________________________________________________
What fellowship means in material matters is made very
plain. Every man is to work for his living. "If a man will
not work, neither let him eat." But those who cannot work are
to be provided for out of the common fund. Old and helpless
persons who have relations of their own should, indeed, find
support from them and not be forced to come upon the Church;
but for the resourceless the Church must provide. And those
who are rich and who earn more than enough to support their own
families are to be willing contributors to the common fund.
The love of money -- the desire to accumulate wealth -- is the
root of every kind of evil. The relation of one to another is
to be that of members in one body, in which, if one member
suffers, all the members suffer with it.
... Charles Gore (1853-1932), Christ and Society [1928]
_______________________________________________________________
Some go to the light of nature and the use of "right
reason" (that is, their own) as their guides; and some add the
additional documents of the philosophers. They think a saying
of Epictetus, or Seneca, or Arrianus, being wittily suited to
their fancies and affections, to have more life and power in it
than any precept of the Gospel. The reason why these things
are more pleasing unto them than the commands and instructions
of Christ is because, proceeding from the spring of natural
light, they are suited to the workings of natural fancy and
understanding; but those of Christ, proceeding from the
fountain of eternal spiritual light, are not comprehended in
their beauty and excellency without a principle of the same
light in us, guiding our understanding and influencing our
affections. Hence, take any precept, general or particular,
about moral duties, that is materially the same in the writings
of philosophers and in the doctrine of the Gospel; not a few
prefer it as delivered in the first way before the latter.
... John Owen (1616-1683),
A Discourse upon the Holy Spirit [1674]
_______________________________________________________________
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do
are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948, Indian Political, Spiritual Leader)
============================================
Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his
brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of
equality.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
============================================
Things are only impossible until they're not.
Jean-Luc Picard
( 'Star Trek: The Next Generation')
============================================
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot
do.
Walter Bagehot
============================================
We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for
it is impossible to live one way and pray another.
... William Law (1686-1761)
_______________________________________________________________
I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of
ignorance.
Adlai E. Stevenson
(1900-1965, American Lawyer, Politician)
============================================
I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the
course of the year to a great bundle of fagots, far too large
for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole
at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first
one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which
we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily
manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for each
day; but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying
yesterday's stick over again today, and adding tomorrow's
burden to the load, before we are required to bear it.
... John Newton (1725-1807)
_______________________________________________________________
The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness; and knows
that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
Kahlil Gibran
(1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Novelist)
============================================
Friday, January 09, 2004
Another criterion was loyalty to the community of Christ
both as gathered congregation and as organized church. The
pride of spiritual gifts had led the Corinthians to jealousy
and strife. They had divided into factions owning the
leadership, one of Paul, one of Apollos, another of Cephas, and
another of Christ -- but such factions, the apostle tells them,
were not characteristics of the "spiritual", but of the carnal.
To divide the Church was to destroy the temple of God, where
the Holy Spirit dwelt among them (I Cor. 3:1, 3, 16). And the
very gifts about which they quarreled should have been a power
to unite them, for they all proceeded from one and the same
Spirit, from one and the same Lord, from one and the same God,
who worketh all in all. The Spirit was indeed the principle of
unity in the Church, "for in one Spirit were we all baptized
into one body" (I Cor. 12:13). Therefore, to divide the Church
was to drive away the Spirit... The tests of spiritual
phenomena in the life of the community, and the proofs that
they were of the Holy Spirit, were unity, order, and
edification. [Continued tomorrow]
... Thomas Rees (1869-1926),
The Holy Spirit in Thought and Experience [1915]
***********
The supreme antidote against strife and confusion, the
supreme principle of unity and service in the Church, was also
the greatest gift of the Spirit and the perfect and abiding
proof of its presence, namely, love. This introduces a third
criterion of the Spirit, and on the wider stage of the moral
life. It is loyalty to the moral ideal of Christ. "If we live
by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk" (Gal. 5:25).
Where the Spirit dwells, it produces a new, a higher, a unique
type of moral life. For Paul, the Christian life was not the
normal and natural product of human activity, but a gracious
divine gift, received by the descent of the Spirit into the
human heart, for "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). And there is yet one higher
manifestation of the Spirit, the participation in the divine
sonship of Jesus Christ. "And because ye are sons, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba,
Father" (Gal. 4:6). Where sonship is, there the Spirit is. On
the other hand, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these
are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:l4). Where the Spirit leads,
there sonship is... the possession of the Spirit and
participation in Christ's sonship are but two aspects of the
same experience. Here, the phenomenon, if it may be so called,
bears its own credentials. Sonship is a self-evident work of
the Spirit. But the evidence is available only for its owners
in order that the Spirit of adoption may attest itself to
others, it must issue in the life according to the Spirit, by
walking in the spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
... Thomas Rees (1869-1926),
The Holy Spirit in Thought and Experience [1915]
_______________________________________________________________
A frequent intercession with God, earnestly beseeching Him
to forgive the sins of all mankind, to bless them with His
providence, enlighten them with His Spirit, and bring them to
everlasting happiness, is the divinest exercise that the heart
of man can be engaged in. Be daily, therefore, on your knees,
in a solemn deliberate performance of this devotion, praying
for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and
earnestness, as you use for yourself; and you will find all
little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great
and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as
you used only to delight in your own... It was this holy
intercession that raised Christians to such a state of mutual
love, as far exceeded all that had been praised and admired in
human friendship. And when the same spirit of intercession is
again in the world, when Christianity has the same power over
the hearts of people that it then had, this holy friendship
will be again in fashion, and Christians will be again the
wonder of the world, for that exceeding love which they bear to
one another.
... William Law (1686-1761),
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728]
_______________________________________________________________
While extremely sensitive as to the slightest approach to
slander, you must also guard against an extreme into which some
people fall who, in their desire to speak evil of no one,
actually uphold and speak well of vice. If you have to do with
one who is unquestionably a slanderer, do not excuse him by
calling him frank and free-spoken; do not call one who is
notoriously vain, liberal and elegant; do not call dangerous
levities mere simplicity; do not screen disobedience under the
name of zeal; or arrogance, of frankness; or evil intimacy, of
friendship. No, my friends, we must never, in our wish to shun
slander, foster or flatter vice in others: but we must call
evil evil, and sin sin, and so doing we shall serve God's
glory.
... François de Sales (1567-1622),
Introduction to the Devout Life
_______________________________________________________________
Many man's scruples lie almost wholly about obedience to
authority and compliance with indifferent customs, but very
seldom about the dangers of disobedience and unpeaceableness
and rending in pieces the Church of Christ by needless
separations and endless divisions.
... John Tillotson (1630-1694)
_______________________________________________________________
He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he
himself must pass.
... George Herbert (1593-1633)
_______________________________________________________________
Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so
equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of
faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent. As the New
Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance,
commitment, vision. It is not a belief in this or that creed,
it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition
than the intellect. Faith has indeed an element of true
simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the
fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which
no man can enter the Kingdom of God.
... Anonymous
_______________________________________________________________
Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never
easy? Jesus says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is
easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy
work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it...
Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a
hand. But however easy any work may be, it cannot be well done
without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of
taking thought about their work, generally take thought about
the morrow -- in which no work can be done, any more than in
yesterday.
... George Macdonald (1824-1905), The Seaboard Parish [1868]
_______________________________________________________________
Many Christians are reluctant to become involved in public
affairs be cause politics is a "dirty business", but the same
people are generally quite happy to go into business life,
which is in its way just as "dirty". If the dubious practices
and moral compromises of every walk of life were dissected and
made known with the glare of publicity which shines on the
activities of politicians, then those who like to think that
they can keep their hands clean would have very few professions
to choose from.
... John B. Lawrence (1873-1968), Hard Facts [1958]
_______________________________________________________________
The church has magnificent buildings, superb equipment,
trained leadership, excellent teaching materials,
organizational ability, and yet lacks that one thing that could
take all these tools and make them the channel of God's will.
In spite of its ever-increasing membership, the church lacks
the spirit of God's growing love and understanding that can
transform it from an efficient organization into a loving,
dynamic fellowship where men and women become vitally alive
with faith, love, and hope.
... Thomas M. Steen, "Renewal in the Church"
_______________________________________________________________
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for
aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are
open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take
with it.
Fulton J. Sheen
(1895-1979)
============================================
The symbol of the New Testament and the Christian Church is
a cross, which stands for a love faithful despite physical
agony and rejection by the world. No amount of air-
conditioning and pew-cushioning in the suburban church can
cover over the hard truth that the Christian life... is a
narrow way of suffering; that discipleship is costly: that, for
the faithful, there is always a cross to be carried. No one
can understand Christianity to its depths who comes to it to
enjoy it as a pleasant weekend diversion.
... W. Waldo Beach (1916-2001), The Christian Life [l966]
_______________________________________________________________
Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the
undertaker will be sorry.
Mark Twain
(1835-1910, American Humorist, Writer)
============================================
Nothing could have saved the infant Church from melting
away into one of those vague and ineffective schools of
philosophic ethics except the stern and strict rule that is
laid down here [Rev. 2:15, 16] by St. John. An easy-going
Christianity could never have survived; only the most
convinced, resolute, almost bigoted adherence to the most
uncompromising interepretation of its own principles could have
given the Christians the courage and self-reliance that were
needed. For them to hesitate or to doubt was to be lost.
... W. M. Ramsay (1851-1939),
The Letters to the Seven Churches [1904]
======================
He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.
Lao-tzu
(BC 600-?, Chinese Philosopher, Founder of Taoism, Author of the Tao Te
Ching)
============================================
Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and
truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all.
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat )
============================================
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn
routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into
blessings.
William Arthur Ward
============================================
Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that
teaches you courage - and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which
remains a mystery still - the veil that hides you from the infinite,
which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see.
Robert Nathan
(1894-1985, American Novelist)
============================================
The underlying questions are always: What is the Church?
What is the Church for? If that is not kept in mind, the lay
ministry, about which so much is being said at present, remains
on the level of a many-sided activity in which the self-
assertion of the laity threatens to be more evident than a new
manifestation of the Church in modern society. The responsible
participation of the laity in the discharge of the Church's
divine calling is not primarily a matter of idealism and
enthusiasm or organizational efficiency, but a new grasp and
commitment to the meaning of God's redemptive purpose with
mankind and with the world in the past, the present, and the
future: a purpose which has its foundation and inexhaustible
content in Christ.
... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965),
A Theology of the Laity [1958]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering
what one receives.
Alexandre Dumas the Younger
(1824-1895, French Writer)
============================================
You can achieve anything you want in life if you have the courage
to dream it, the intelligence to make a realistic plan, and the will to
see that plan through to the end.
Sidney A. Friedman
(1935-, American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author)
============================================
Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and
he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty
to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even
our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual
tranquility under every circumstance.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_________________________________________________________
Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts.
The first: that the consciences of believers, in seeking
assurance of their justification before God, should rise above
and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness...
The second part, dependent upon the first, is that consciences
observe the law, not as if constrained by the necessity of the
law, but that freed from the law's yoke they willingly obey
God's will... The third part of Christian freedom lies in
this: regarding outward things that are of themselves
"indifferent", we are not bound before God by any religious
obligation preventing us from sometimes using them and other
times not using them, indifferently... Accordingly, it is
perversely interpreted both by those who allege it as an excuse
for their desires that they may abuse God's good gifts to their
own lust and by those who think that freedom does not exist
unless it is used before men, and consequently, in using it
have no regard for weaker brethren... Nothing is plainer than
this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the
edification of our neighbor, but if it does not help our
neighbor, then we should forego it.
... John Calvin (1509-1564),
The Institutes of the Christian Religion [1559]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship renders prosperity more brilliant, while it lightens
adversity by sharing it and making its burden common.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
( c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician)
============================================
A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of
body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a
single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well
as we live.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
both as gathered congregation and as organized church. The
pride of spiritual gifts had led the Corinthians to jealousy
and strife. They had divided into factions owning the
leadership, one of Paul, one of Apollos, another of Cephas, and
another of Christ -- but such factions, the apostle tells them,
were not characteristics of the "spiritual", but of the carnal.
To divide the Church was to destroy the temple of God, where
the Holy Spirit dwelt among them (I Cor. 3:1, 3, 16). And the
very gifts about which they quarreled should have been a power
to unite them, for they all proceeded from one and the same
Spirit, from one and the same Lord, from one and the same God,
who worketh all in all. The Spirit was indeed the principle of
unity in the Church, "for in one Spirit were we all baptized
into one body" (I Cor. 12:13). Therefore, to divide the Church
was to drive away the Spirit... The tests of spiritual
phenomena in the life of the community, and the proofs that
they were of the Holy Spirit, were unity, order, and
edification. [Continued tomorrow]
... Thomas Rees (1869-1926),
The Holy Spirit in Thought and Experience [1915]
***********
The supreme antidote against strife and confusion, the
supreme principle of unity and service in the Church, was also
the greatest gift of the Spirit and the perfect and abiding
proof of its presence, namely, love. This introduces a third
criterion of the Spirit, and on the wider stage of the moral
life. It is loyalty to the moral ideal of Christ. "If we live
by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk" (Gal. 5:25).
Where the Spirit dwells, it produces a new, a higher, a unique
type of moral life. For Paul, the Christian life was not the
normal and natural product of human activity, but a gracious
divine gift, received by the descent of the Spirit into the
human heart, for "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). And there is yet one higher
manifestation of the Spirit, the participation in the divine
sonship of Jesus Christ. "And because ye are sons, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba,
Father" (Gal. 4:6). Where sonship is, there the Spirit is. On
the other hand, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these
are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:l4). Where the Spirit leads,
there sonship is... the possession of the Spirit and
participation in Christ's sonship are but two aspects of the
same experience. Here, the phenomenon, if it may be so called,
bears its own credentials. Sonship is a self-evident work of
the Spirit. But the evidence is available only for its owners
in order that the Spirit of adoption may attest itself to
others, it must issue in the life according to the Spirit, by
walking in the spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
... Thomas Rees (1869-1926),
The Holy Spirit in Thought and Experience [1915]
_______________________________________________________________
A frequent intercession with God, earnestly beseeching Him
to forgive the sins of all mankind, to bless them with His
providence, enlighten them with His Spirit, and bring them to
everlasting happiness, is the divinest exercise that the heart
of man can be engaged in. Be daily, therefore, on your knees,
in a solemn deliberate performance of this devotion, praying
for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and
earnestness, as you use for yourself; and you will find all
little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great
and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as
you used only to delight in your own... It was this holy
intercession that raised Christians to such a state of mutual
love, as far exceeded all that had been praised and admired in
human friendship. And when the same spirit of intercession is
again in the world, when Christianity has the same power over
the hearts of people that it then had, this holy friendship
will be again in fashion, and Christians will be again the
wonder of the world, for that exceeding love which they bear to
one another.
... William Law (1686-1761),
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728]
_______________________________________________________________
While extremely sensitive as to the slightest approach to
slander, you must also guard against an extreme into which some
people fall who, in their desire to speak evil of no one,
actually uphold and speak well of vice. If you have to do with
one who is unquestionably a slanderer, do not excuse him by
calling him frank and free-spoken; do not call one who is
notoriously vain, liberal and elegant; do not call dangerous
levities mere simplicity; do not screen disobedience under the
name of zeal; or arrogance, of frankness; or evil intimacy, of
friendship. No, my friends, we must never, in our wish to shun
slander, foster or flatter vice in others: but we must call
evil evil, and sin sin, and so doing we shall serve God's
glory.
... François de Sales (1567-1622),
Introduction to the Devout Life
_______________________________________________________________
Many man's scruples lie almost wholly about obedience to
authority and compliance with indifferent customs, but very
seldom about the dangers of disobedience and unpeaceableness
and rending in pieces the Church of Christ by needless
separations and endless divisions.
... John Tillotson (1630-1694)
_______________________________________________________________
He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he
himself must pass.
... George Herbert (1593-1633)
_______________________________________________________________
Faith is sometimes equated with credulity, but it can be so
equated only when the profound mistake is made of thinking of
faith as primarily a matter of intellectual assent. As the New
Testament uses the word, faith is trust, acceptance,
commitment, vision. It is not a belief in this or that creed,
it is a quality which lies rather in the realm of intuition
than the intellect. Faith has indeed an element of true
simplicity; it is one of the qualities -- perhaps the
fundamental quality -- of the child-like spirit without which
no man can enter the Kingdom of God.
... Anonymous
_______________________________________________________________
Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never
easy? Jesus says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is
easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy
work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it...
Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a
hand. But however easy any work may be, it cannot be well done
without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of
taking thought about their work, generally take thought about
the morrow -- in which no work can be done, any more than in
yesterday.
... George Macdonald (1824-1905), The Seaboard Parish [1868]
_______________________________________________________________
Many Christians are reluctant to become involved in public
affairs be cause politics is a "dirty business", but the same
people are generally quite happy to go into business life,
which is in its way just as "dirty". If the dubious practices
and moral compromises of every walk of life were dissected and
made known with the glare of publicity which shines on the
activities of politicians, then those who like to think that
they can keep their hands clean would have very few professions
to choose from.
... John B. Lawrence (1873-1968), Hard Facts [1958]
_______________________________________________________________
The church has magnificent buildings, superb equipment,
trained leadership, excellent teaching materials,
organizational ability, and yet lacks that one thing that could
take all these tools and make them the channel of God's will.
In spite of its ever-increasing membership, the church lacks
the spirit of God's growing love and understanding that can
transform it from an efficient organization into a loving,
dynamic fellowship where men and women become vitally alive
with faith, love, and hope.
... Thomas M. Steen, "Renewal in the Church"
_______________________________________________________________
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for
aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are
open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take
with it.
Fulton J. Sheen
(1895-1979)
============================================
The symbol of the New Testament and the Christian Church is
a cross, which stands for a love faithful despite physical
agony and rejection by the world. No amount of air-
conditioning and pew-cushioning in the suburban church can
cover over the hard truth that the Christian life... is a
narrow way of suffering; that discipleship is costly: that, for
the faithful, there is always a cross to be carried. No one
can understand Christianity to its depths who comes to it to
enjoy it as a pleasant weekend diversion.
... W. Waldo Beach (1916-2001), The Christian Life [l966]
_______________________________________________________________
Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the
undertaker will be sorry.
Mark Twain
(1835-1910, American Humorist, Writer)
============================================
Nothing could have saved the infant Church from melting
away into one of those vague and ineffective schools of
philosophic ethics except the stern and strict rule that is
laid down here [Rev. 2:15, 16] by St. John. An easy-going
Christianity could never have survived; only the most
convinced, resolute, almost bigoted adherence to the most
uncompromising interepretation of its own principles could have
given the Christians the courage and self-reliance that were
needed. For them to hesitate or to doubt was to be lost.
... W. M. Ramsay (1851-1939),
The Letters to the Seven Churches [1904]
======================
He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.
Lao-tzu
(BC 600-?, Chinese Philosopher, Founder of Taoism, Author of the Tao Te
Ching)
============================================
Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and
truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all.
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat )
============================================
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn
routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into
blessings.
William Arthur Ward
============================================
Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that
teaches you courage - and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which
remains a mystery still - the veil that hides you from the infinite,
which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see.
Robert Nathan
(1894-1985, American Novelist)
============================================
The underlying questions are always: What is the Church?
What is the Church for? If that is not kept in mind, the lay
ministry, about which so much is being said at present, remains
on the level of a many-sided activity in which the self-
assertion of the laity threatens to be more evident than a new
manifestation of the Church in modern society. The responsible
participation of the laity in the discharge of the Church's
divine calling is not primarily a matter of idealism and
enthusiasm or organizational efficiency, but a new grasp and
commitment to the meaning of God's redemptive purpose with
mankind and with the world in the past, the present, and the
future: a purpose which has its foundation and inexhaustible
content in Christ.
... Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965),
A Theology of the Laity [1958]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering
what one receives.
Alexandre Dumas the Younger
(1824-1895, French Writer)
============================================
You can achieve anything you want in life if you have the courage
to dream it, the intelligence to make a realistic plan, and the will to
see that plan through to the end.
Sidney A. Friedman
(1935-, American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author)
============================================
Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and
he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty
to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even
our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual
tranquility under every circumstance.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_________________________________________________________
Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts.
The first: that the consciences of believers, in seeking
assurance of their justification before God, should rise above
and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness...
The second part, dependent upon the first, is that consciences
observe the law, not as if constrained by the necessity of the
law, but that freed from the law's yoke they willingly obey
God's will... The third part of Christian freedom lies in
this: regarding outward things that are of themselves
"indifferent", we are not bound before God by any religious
obligation preventing us from sometimes using them and other
times not using them, indifferently... Accordingly, it is
perversely interpreted both by those who allege it as an excuse
for their desires that they may abuse God's good gifts to their
own lust and by those who think that freedom does not exist
unless it is used before men, and consequently, in using it
have no regard for weaker brethren... Nothing is plainer than
this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the
edification of our neighbor, but if it does not help our
neighbor, then we should forego it.
... John Calvin (1509-1564),
The Institutes of the Christian Religion [1559]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship renders prosperity more brilliant, while it lightens
adversity by sharing it and making its burden common.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
( c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician)
============================================
A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of
body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a
single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well
as we live.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
education
Education, in the broadest of truest sense, will make an
individual seek to help all people, regardless of race, regardless of
color, regardless of condition.
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943, American Scientist)
=============================
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the
lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope.
Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)
============================================
Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and
he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty
to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even
our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual
tranquility under every circumstance.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your
duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist)
============================================
Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts.
The first: that the consciences of believers, in seeking
assurance of their justification before God, should rise above
and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness...
The second part, dependent upon the first, is that consciences
observe the law, not as if constrained by the necessity of the
law, but that freed from the law's yoke they willingly obey
God's will... The third part of Christian freedom lies in
this: regarding outward things that are of themselves
"indifferent", we are not bound before God by any religious
obligation preventing us from sometimes using them and other
times not using them, indifferently... Accordingly, it is
perversely interpreted both by those who allege it as an excuse
for their desires that they may abuse God's good gifts to their
own lust and by those who think that freedom does not exist
unless it is used before men, and consequently, in using it
have no regard for weaker brethren... Nothing is plainer than
this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the
edification of our neighbor, but if it does not help our
neighbor, then we should forego it.
... John Calvin (1509-1564),
The Institutes of the Christian Religion [1559]
_______________________________________________________________
Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't
forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!
Bible, Hebrews 13:1
============================================
All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and
even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
Pearl S. Buck
(1892-1973, American Novelist)
============================================
Count not thyself to have found true peace, if thou hast
felt no grief; nor that then all is well if thou hast no
adversary; nor that this is perfect, if all things fall out
according to thy desire.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
_______________________________________________________________
All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is
lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.
Adolfo Prieto
(1867-1945, Humanitarian)
============================================
Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that
beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures
on
the window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces.
Soren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855, Danish Philosopher, Writer)
============================================
A meal, however simple, is a moment of intersection. It is at
once the most basic, the most fundamental, of our life's activities,
maintaining the life of our bodies; shared with others it can be an
occasion of joy and communion, uniting people deeply.
Elise Boulding
============================================
Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never
easy? Jesus says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is
easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy
work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it...
Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a
hand. But however easy any work may be, it cannot be well done
without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of
taking thought about their work, generally take thought about
the morrow -- in which no work can be done, any more than in
yesterday.
... George Macdonald (1824-1905), The Seaboard Parish [1868]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship renders prosperity more brilliant, while it lightens
adversity by sharing it and making its burden common.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
( c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician)
============================================
A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of
body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a
single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well
as we live.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
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)
============================================
It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see
God, for only the pure in heart want to.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
_______________________________________________________________
As, then, a consummate master teaches both by example and
by precept, so Christ taught the obedience, which good men are
to render even at the cost of death, by Himself first dying in
rendering it.
... Rufinus (345?-410)
_______________________________________________________________
Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness
destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?
Jane Austen
(1775-1817, British Novelist)
============================================
If I wanted to become a tramp, I would seek information and
advice from the most successful tramp I could find. If I wanted to
become a failure, I would seek advice from people who have never succeeded. If
I wanted to succeed in all things, I would look around me for those who
are succeeding, and do as they have done.
Joseph Marshall Wade
============================================
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being
cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It
is
self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure-footedness that comes
with having proved you can meet life.
Ann Landers
(1918-, American Advice Columnist)
============================================
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to
persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
Christopher Reeve
(1952-, American Actor, Motivational Speaker (who became paralyzed from
the neck down after a freak horseback-riding accident))
============================================
In your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may go
and sheltered so may thrive and grow.
Louise Driscoll
============================================
Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not
incite us to have them.
John Updike
============================================
Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes
rich.
Sarah Bernhardt
(1844-1923, French Actress)
============================================
Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every
problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually.
Eileen Caddy
(American Spiritual Writer)
============================================
What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
Theodore Roethke
============================================
Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to
achievement. One fails forward toward success.
Charles F. Kettering
(1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor)
============================================
Education, in the broadest of truest sense, will make an
individual seek to help all people, regardless of race, regardless of
color, regardless of condition.
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943, American Scientist)
=============================
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the
lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope.
Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)
============================================
Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and
he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty
to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even
our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual
tranquility under every circumstance.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your
duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist)
============================================
Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts.
The first: that the consciences of believers, in seeking
assurance of their justification before God, should rise above
and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness...
The second part, dependent upon the first, is that consciences
observe the law, not as if constrained by the necessity of the
law, but that freed from the law's yoke they willingly obey
God's will... The third part of Christian freedom lies in
this: regarding outward things that are of themselves
"indifferent", we are not bound before God by any religious
obligation preventing us from sometimes using them and other
times not using them, indifferently... Accordingly, it is
perversely interpreted both by those who allege it as an excuse
for their desires that they may abuse God's good gifts to their
own lust and by those who think that freedom does not exist
unless it is used before men, and consequently, in using it
have no regard for weaker brethren... Nothing is plainer than
this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the
edification of our neighbor, but if it does not help our
neighbor, then we should forego it.
... John Calvin (1509-1564),
The Institutes of the Christian Religion [1559]
_______________________________________________________________
Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't
forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!
Bible, Hebrews 13:1
============================================
All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and
even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
Pearl S. Buck
(1892-1973, American Novelist)
============================================
Count not thyself to have found true peace, if thou hast
felt no grief; nor that then all is well if thou hast no
adversary; nor that this is perfect, if all things fall out
according to thy desire.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
_______________________________________________________________
All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is
lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.
Adolfo Prieto
(1867-1945, Humanitarian)
============================================
Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that
beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures
on
the window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces.
Soren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855, Danish Philosopher, Writer)
============================================
A meal, however simple, is a moment of intersection. It is at
once the most basic, the most fundamental, of our life's activities,
maintaining the life of our bodies; shared with others it can be an
occasion of joy and communion, uniting people deeply.
Elise Boulding
============================================
Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never
easy? Jesus says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is
easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy
work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it...
Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a
hand. But however easy any work may be, it cannot be well done
without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of
taking thought about their work, generally take thought about
the morrow -- in which no work can be done, any more than in
yesterday.
... George Macdonald (1824-1905), The Seaboard Parish [1868]
_______________________________________________________________
Friendship renders prosperity more brilliant, while it lightens
adversity by sharing it and making its burden common.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
( c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician)
============================================
A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of
body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a
single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well
as we live.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
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)
============================================
It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see
God, for only the pure in heart want to.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
_______________________________________________________________
As, then, a consummate master teaches both by example and
by precept, so Christ taught the obedience, which good men are
to render even at the cost of death, by Himself first dying in
rendering it.
... Rufinus (345?-410)
_______________________________________________________________
Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness
destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?
Jane Austen
(1775-1817, British Novelist)
============================================
If I wanted to become a tramp, I would seek information and
advice from the most successful tramp I could find. If I wanted to
become a failure, I would seek advice from people who have never succeeded. If
I wanted to succeed in all things, I would look around me for those who
are succeeding, and do as they have done.
Joseph Marshall Wade
============================================
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being
cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It
is
self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure-footedness that comes
with having proved you can meet life.
Ann Landers
(1918-, American Advice Columnist)
============================================
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to
persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
Christopher Reeve
(1952-, American Actor, Motivational Speaker (who became paralyzed from
the neck down after a freak horseback-riding accident))
============================================
In your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may go
and sheltered so may thrive and grow.
Louise Driscoll
============================================
Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not
incite us to have them.
John Updike
============================================
Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes
rich.
Sarah Bernhardt
(1844-1923, French Actress)
============================================
Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every
problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually.
Eileen Caddy
(American Spiritual Writer)
============================================
What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
Theodore Roethke
============================================
Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to
achievement. One fails forward toward success.
Charles F. Kettering
(1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor)
============================================
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Newbigin: atomization
Western European civilization has witnessed a sort of
atomizing process, in which the individual is more and more set
free from his natural setting in family and neighborhood, and
becomes a sort of replaceable unit in the social machine. His
nearest neighbors may not even know his name. He is free to
move from place to place, from job to job, from acquaintance to
acquaintance, and -- if he has attained a high degree of
emancipation -- from wife to wife. He is in every context a
more and more anonymous and replaceable part, the perfect
incarnation of the rationalist conception of man. Wherever
western civilization has spread in the past one hundred years,
it has carried this atomizing process with it. Its
characteristic product in Calcutta, Shanghai, or Johannesburg,
is the modern city into which myriads of human beings, loosened
from their old ties in village or tribe or caste, like grains
of sand fretted by water from an ancient block of sandstone,
are ceaselessly churned around in the whirlpool of the city --
anonymous, identical, replaceable units. In such a situation,
it is natural that men should long for some sort of real
community, for men cannot be human without it. It is
especially natural that Christians should reach out after that
part of Christian doctrine which speaks of the true, God-given
community, the Church of Jesus Christ. We have witnessed the
appalling results of trying to go back to some sort of
primitive collectivity based on the total control of the
individual, down to the depths of his spirit, by an
all-powerful group. Yet we know that we cannot condemn this
solution to the problem of man's loneliness if we have no other
to offer. It is natural that men should ask with a greater
eagerness than ever before, such questions as these: "Is there
in truth a family of God on earth to which I can belong, a
place where all men can be truly at home? If so, where is it
to be found, what are its marks, and how is it related to, and
distinguished from, the known communities of family, nation,
and culture? What are its boundaries, its structure, its terms
of membership? And how comes it that those who claim to be the
spokesmen of that one holy fellowship are themselves at war
with one another as to the fundamentals of its nature, and
unable to agree to live together in unity and concord?" The
breakdown of Christendom has forced such questions as these to
the front. I think that there is no more urgent theological
task than to try to give them plain and credible answers.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God [1953]
_______________________________________________________________
Men have, for the most part, done with lamenting their lost
faith. Sentimental tears over the happy, simple Christendom of
their fathers are a thing of the past. They are proclaiming
now their contempt for Christ's character, and their disgust at
the very name of love. Scorn and hatred, difference and
division, must be more than ever our lot, if we would be the
followers of Christ in these days. Conventional religion and
polite unbelief are gone forever.
... John Neville Figgis (1866-1919)
_______________________________________________________________
A simple rule, to be followed whether one is in the light
or not, gives backbone to one's spiritual life, as nothing else
can.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)
_______________________________________________________________
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a
cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.
Benjamin Spock
(1903-, American Pediatrician)
============================================
Here's the Quotation for Friday, November 28, 2003
Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a
success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
============================================
When you give away a little piece of your heart, you're giving
away the only thing you can give away, which, after you do, you got
more
left than you had before you gave some of it away.
Don Hutson
(American Sales Trainer)
============================================
At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed
one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more
deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a
parent.
Barbara Bush
(1925-, American First Lady, Wife of President George Bush)
============================================
Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you;
give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially
to
those you don't want to give. You will receive abundance for your
giving.
The more you give, the more you will have!
W. Clement Stone
(1902-, American Businessman, Author)
============================================
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to
delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?
Rose F. Kennedy
(1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy)
============================================
Christians seeking social justice have a special
responsibility. Much more is required than the bringing of
aid to people who are homeless and in need, and contributing to
their support. There are real dangers to be faced. It must
never be allowed to appear that charity is dispensed to the
unfortunate by superior beings... Much greater care must be
taken to identify the giver with those whom he comes to serve.
... A. C. MacInnes
_______________________________________________________________
What is the Christian? Everywhere the man who, so far as
he comprehends Jesus Christ, so far as he can get any knowledge
of Him, is His servant -- the man who makes Christ a teacher of
his intelligence and the guide of his soul -- the man who obeys
Christ as far as he has been able to understand him... I would
know any man as a Christian, would rejoice to know any man as a
Christian, whom Jesus would recognize as a Christian; and Jesus
Christ, I am sure, in these old days recognized His followers
even if they came after Him with the blindest sight, with the
most imperfect recognition and acknowledgment of what He was
and of what He could do.
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Law of Growth [1902]
_______________________________________________________________
Western European civilization has witnessed a sort of
atomizing process, in which the individual is more and more set
free from his natural setting in family and neighborhood, and
becomes a sort of replaceable unit in the social machine. His
nearest neighbors may not even know his name. He is free to
move from place to place, from job to job, from acquaintance to
acquaintance, and -- if he has attained a high degree of
emancipation -- from wife to wife. He is in every context a
more and more anonymous and replaceable part, the perfect
incarnation of the rationalist conception of man. Wherever
western civilization has spread in the past one hundred years,
it has carried this atomizing process with it. Its
characteristic product in Calcutta, Shanghai, or Johannesburg,
is the modern city into which myriads of human beings, loosened
from their old ties in village or tribe or caste, like grains
of sand fretted by water from an ancient block of sandstone,
are ceaselessly churned around in the whirlpool of the city --
anonymous, identical, replaceable units. In such a situation,
it is natural that men should long for some sort of real
community, for men cannot be human without it. It is
especially natural that Christians should reach out after that
part of Christian doctrine which speaks of the true, God-given
community, the Church of Jesus Christ. We have witnessed the
appalling results of trying to go back to some sort of
primitive collectivity based on the total control of the
individual, down to the depths of his spirit, by an
all-powerful group. Yet we know that we cannot condemn this
solution to the problem of man's loneliness if we have no other
to offer. It is natural that men should ask with a greater
eagerness than ever before, such questions as these: "Is there
in truth a family of God on earth to which I can belong, a
place where all men can be truly at home? If so, where is it
to be found, what are its marks, and how is it related to, and
distinguished from, the known communities of family, nation,
and culture? What are its boundaries, its structure, its terms
of membership? And how comes it that those who claim to be the
spokesmen of that one holy fellowship are themselves at war
with one another as to the fundamentals of its nature, and
unable to agree to live together in unity and concord?" The
breakdown of Christendom has forced such questions as these to
the front. I think that there is no more urgent theological
task than to try to give them plain and credible answers.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God [1953]
_______________________________________________________________
Men have, for the most part, done with lamenting their lost
faith. Sentimental tears over the happy, simple Christendom of
their fathers are a thing of the past. They are proclaiming
now their contempt for Christ's character, and their disgust at
the very name of love. Scorn and hatred, difference and
division, must be more than ever our lot, if we would be the
followers of Christ in these days. Conventional religion and
polite unbelief are gone forever.
... John Neville Figgis (1866-1919)
_______________________________________________________________
A simple rule, to be followed whether one is in the light
or not, gives backbone to one's spiritual life, as nothing else
can.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)
_______________________________________________________________
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a
cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.
Benjamin Spock
(1903-, American Pediatrician)
============================================
Here's the Quotation for Friday, November 28, 2003
Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a
success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
============================================
When you give away a little piece of your heart, you're giving
away the only thing you can give away, which, after you do, you got
more
left than you had before you gave some of it away.
Don Hutson
(American Sales Trainer)
============================================
At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed
one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more
deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a
parent.
Barbara Bush
(1925-, American First Lady, Wife of President George Bush)
============================================
Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you;
give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially
to
those you don't want to give. You will receive abundance for your
giving.
The more you give, the more you will have!
W. Clement Stone
(1902-, American Businessman, Author)
============================================
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to
delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?
Rose F. Kennedy
(1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy)
============================================
Christians seeking social justice have a special
responsibility. Much more is required than the bringing of
aid to people who are homeless and in need, and contributing to
their support. There are real dangers to be faced. It must
never be allowed to appear that charity is dispensed to the
unfortunate by superior beings... Much greater care must be
taken to identify the giver with those whom he comes to serve.
... A. C. MacInnes
_______________________________________________________________
What is the Christian? Everywhere the man who, so far as
he comprehends Jesus Christ, so far as he can get any knowledge
of Him, is His servant -- the man who makes Christ a teacher of
his intelligence and the guide of his soul -- the man who obeys
Christ as far as he has been able to understand him... I would
know any man as a Christian, would rejoice to know any man as a
Christian, whom Jesus would recognize as a Christian; and Jesus
Christ, I am sure, in these old days recognized His followers
even if they came after Him with the blindest sight, with the
most imperfect recognition and acknowledgment of what He was
and of what He could do.
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Law of Growth [1902]
_______________________________________________________________
-----------------------------
A hero is a man who does what he can.
-- Roman Rollard
-----------------------------
I find that it is not the circumstances in which we are placed, but
the spirit in which we face them, that constitutes our comfort.
-- Elizabeth T. King
-----------------------------
Faith that the thing can be done is essential to any great
achievement.
-- Thomas N. Carruther
-----------------------------
One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the
most beautiful.
-- Sigmund Freud
-----------------------------
The most important thing I have learned over the years is the
difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self
seriously. The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
-- Margaret Fontey
-----------------------------
Time and money spent in helping men do more for themselves is far
better than mere giving.
-- Henry Ford (1863-1947) American Industrialist
-----------------------------
The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it but what
he becomes by it.
-- John Ruskin (1819-1900)
-----------------------------
Don't wait for your "ship to come in" and feel angry and cheated when
it doesn't. Get going with something small.
-- Irene Kassorla
-----------------------------
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor
without having victims.
-- Harriet Woods (1927-) American Politician
-----------------------------
Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings
have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic
expectations, patience, and perseverance.
-- John C. Bogle (1929-) American Investor
-----------------------------
Attitude determines altitude.
-- Unknown
-----------------------------
All high achievers plan their work and work their plan, for they are
keenly aware that "luck" is most often being prepared to take
advantage of a situation.
-- Unknown
-----------------------------
The greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every
time we fall.
-- Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher
-----------------------------
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long
enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
-- Longfellow
-----------------------------
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to
do.
-- Epictetus (55-135 AD) Roman Philosopher
-----------------------------
Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and obeys
it.
-- Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) French Scientist
-----------------------------
He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones. They are made.
-- Henry B. Wilson
-----------------------------
A mother should give her children a superabundance of enthusiasm,
that after they have lost all they are sure to lose in mixing with
the world, enough may still remain to prompt and support them through
great actions.
-- Julius C. Hare (1795-1855) English Cleric
-----------------------------
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If
you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever
increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires
effort. This is one of the things that discipline - training - is
about.
-- James Clavell, in his novel "Shogun"
-----------------------------
It is a glorious achievement to master one's own temper.
-- Anonymous
-----------------------------
In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of
the shore for a very long time.
-- Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Writer
-----------------------------
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I
don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,
and, if they can't find them, make them.
-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Playwright
-----------------------------
No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and
good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being
helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.
-- Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American Bishop
-----------------------------
A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
-- Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English Poet
-----------------------------
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be,
he must be.
-- Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) American Psychologist
-----------------------------
The nearest way to glory -- a shortcut, as it were -- is to strive to
be what you wish to be thought to be - quoted in Cicero, 44 BC.
-- Socrates (469-399 BC) Greek Philosopher
-----------------------------
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to
extraordinary success.
-- Vauvenargues
-----------------------------
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty
to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
-- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer
-----------------------------
Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any
other fragile and precious thing.
-- Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) American Writer
-----------------------------
When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into
them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.
-- Arland Gilbert
-----------------------------
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at the Sun."
We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the
ground.
-- Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960) American Writer
-----------------------------
If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for
you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this
thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying
down.
-- Mary Pickford (1893-1979) Canadian Actress
-----------------------------
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others.
-- Nelson Mandela
-----------------------------
Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of
honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the
goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.
-- Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English Novelist
-----------------------------
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
-- William Arthur Ward
-----------------------------
Activity and sadness are incompatible.
-- Christian Bovee
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is
evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
-- Calvin Coolidge
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.
-- Peter Mayle
-----------------------------
Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody
believes he got the biggest piece.
-- Sherry Rothfield
-----------------------------
If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.
-- David Viscott
-----------------------------
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly
smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration
that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him
and is willing to trust him with his friendship.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-----------------------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
-- Lao Tzu
A hero is a man who does what he can.
-- Roman Rollard
-----------------------------
I find that it is not the circumstances in which we are placed, but
the spirit in which we face them, that constitutes our comfort.
-- Elizabeth T. King
-----------------------------
Faith that the thing can be done is essential to any great
achievement.
-- Thomas N. Carruther
-----------------------------
One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the
most beautiful.
-- Sigmund Freud
-----------------------------
The most important thing I have learned over the years is the
difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self
seriously. The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
-- Margaret Fontey
-----------------------------
Time and money spent in helping men do more for themselves is far
better than mere giving.
-- Henry Ford (1863-1947) American Industrialist
-----------------------------
The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it but what
he becomes by it.
-- John Ruskin (1819-1900)
-----------------------------
Don't wait for your "ship to come in" and feel angry and cheated when
it doesn't. Get going with something small.
-- Irene Kassorla
-----------------------------
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor
without having victims.
-- Harriet Woods (1927-) American Politician
-----------------------------
Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings
have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic
expectations, patience, and perseverance.
-- John C. Bogle (1929-) American Investor
-----------------------------
Attitude determines altitude.
-- Unknown
-----------------------------
All high achievers plan their work and work their plan, for they are
keenly aware that "luck" is most often being prepared to take
advantage of a situation.
-- Unknown
-----------------------------
The greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every
time we fall.
-- Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher
-----------------------------
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long
enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
-- Longfellow
-----------------------------
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to
do.
-- Epictetus (55-135 AD) Roman Philosopher
-----------------------------
Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and obeys
it.
-- Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) French Scientist
-----------------------------
He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones. They are made.
-- Henry B. Wilson
-----------------------------
A mother should give her children a superabundance of enthusiasm,
that after they have lost all they are sure to lose in mixing with
the world, enough may still remain to prompt and support them through
great actions.
-- Julius C. Hare (1795-1855) English Cleric
-----------------------------
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If
you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever
increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires
effort. This is one of the things that discipline - training - is
about.
-- James Clavell, in his novel "Shogun"
-----------------------------
It is a glorious achievement to master one's own temper.
-- Anonymous
-----------------------------
In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of
the shore for a very long time.
-- Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Writer
-----------------------------
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I
don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,
and, if they can't find them, make them.
-- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Playwright
-----------------------------
No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and
good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being
helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.
-- Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American Bishop
-----------------------------
A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
-- Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English Poet
-----------------------------
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be,
he must be.
-- Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) American Psychologist
-----------------------------
The nearest way to glory -- a shortcut, as it were -- is to strive to
be what you wish to be thought to be - quoted in Cicero, 44 BC.
-- Socrates (469-399 BC) Greek Philosopher
-----------------------------
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to
extraordinary success.
-- Vauvenargues
-----------------------------
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty
to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
-- Helen Keller (1880-1968) American Writer
-----------------------------
Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any
other fragile and precious thing.
-- Randolph S. Bourne (1886-1918) American Writer
-----------------------------
When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into
them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.
-- Arland Gilbert
-----------------------------
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at the Sun."
We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the
ground.
-- Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960) American Writer
-----------------------------
If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for
you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this
thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying
down.
-- Mary Pickford (1893-1979) Canadian Actress
-----------------------------
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others.
-- Nelson Mandela
-----------------------------
Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of
honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the
goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.
-- Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English Novelist
-----------------------------
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
-- William Arthur Ward
-----------------------------
Activity and sadness are incompatible.
-- Christian Bovee
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is
evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.
-- Calvin Coolidge
-----------------------------
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
-----------------------------
Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.
-- Peter Mayle
-----------------------------
Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody
believes he got the biggest piece.
-- Sherry Rothfield
-----------------------------
If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.
-- David Viscott
-----------------------------
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly
smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration
that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him
and is willing to trust him with his friendship.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-----------------------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
-- Lao Tzu
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Never does a man portray his character more vividly than his
proclaiming the character of another.
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965, British Prime Minister)
==================================
It is better to deserve an honor and not receive it, than to
receive one, and not deserve it!
Mark Twain
(1835-1910, American Humorist, Writer)
========================================
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot
today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didnt get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die;
so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha
===========================================
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900, German Philosopher)
============================================
In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life;
it goes on!
Leo Buscaglia
(American Expert on Love, Lecturer, Author)
============================================
We get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin
with God. We are right when, and only when, we stand in a
right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so
long as we stand in any other position.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.
Joe E. Lewis
============================================
The Christian clearly understands that Jesus does not
reveal all that is signified by the word "God", but only as
much as could be revealed through a perfect human personality
living in absolute obedience to God's will. The knowledge of
God that men have by virtue of Jesus' revelation is quite
enough for men to live by in this life, and to live gloriously
and thankfully by, Christians maintain -- the knowledge that
God the Creator, the Almighty and Eternal, the Lord of history,
is man's Heavenly Father, and that love might well be, and
indeed is, the ultimate meaning of human existence.
... Frederick Ward Kates (1920- ),
A Moment Between Two Eternities [1965]
_______________________________________________________________
A Christian cannot help being free, because in the pursuit
and attainment of his object, no one can either hinder or
retard him.
... Lyof N. Tolstoy (1828-1910)
_______________________________________________________________
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain
why you did it wrong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1819-1892, American Poet)
============================================
You have your season, and you have but your season; neither
can you lie down in peace, until you have some persuasion that
your work as well as your life is at an end.
... John Owen (1616-1683)
_______________________________________________________________
My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch
him do it.
Clarence Buddinton Kelland
============================================
The evidence for Christian truth is not exhaustive, but it
is sufficient. Too often, Christianity has not been tried and
found wanting -- it has been found demanding, and not tried.
... John Baillie (1886-1960)
_______________________________________________________________
It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist)
============================================
The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open
one.
Malcomb S. Forbes
(1919-1990, American Publisher, Businessman)
============================================
In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
(1879-1955, German-born American Physicist)
============================================
The blessed and inviting truth is that God is the most
winsome of all beings and in our worship of Him we should
find unspeakable pleasure.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
There was no point of controversy between Jesus and the
Jews; Jesus brought no new doctrine unto them. Jesus said, What
the masters in Israel teach, what the Pharisees and the Scribes
teach, is perfectly correct. There was no dogma which was the
cause of controversy between Jesus and the nation; there was no
new custom that Jesus introduced: He went into the Temple... He
observed the ordinances and festivals of Israel. What was the
subject of dispute and controversy between Jesus and the Jews?
It was no doctrine, it was no innovation, it was Jesus Himself
whom they rejected. There was an antipathy in them to the
person of Jesus: it was the Lord Himself whom they hated,
because they hated the Father... But Jesus knew... that it was
because He was one with the Father, because He was the express
image of His being, because He was the perfect manifestation of
the character of God, that they hated Him; and therefore Jesus
was pained, not because they hated Him, but because they hated
in Him the Father.
... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel [1911]
_______________________________________________________________
That God loves us in spite of our sin is the Gospel truth;
but this truth can only be shared by words, since good deeds
are easily [taken to show] the opposite -- that we love God.
Faith is not understood when [it is] only demonstrated by life.
The more sanctified a life without the verbal witness, the
greater the danger of the Christian's goodness getting in the
way. Should a person by the grace of God become easier to live
with, he doesn't need to call attention to it: it will speak
for itself. He can instead seek to balance the reverse effect
of the good image by occasionally speaking of the unfavorable
realities within, those parts that are still changing. In this
way, his external behavior by contrast can point to the power
of God, rather than to the effort of man. When we decrease, He
can increase, but not until.
... Paul G. Johnson (1931- ), Buried Alive [1968]
_______________________________________________________________
[God desires] not that He may say to them, "Look how mighty
I am, and go down upon your knees and worship", for power alone
was never yet worthy of prayer; but that He may say thus:
"Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my
strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get
only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way.
There is no other way."
... George Macdonald (1824-1905),
Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood [1866]
_______________________________________________________________
What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice
on our account? And what is our Joy, which He says shall be
full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on
our account, when He rejoiced in foreknowing and predestinating
us; but that joy was not in us, because we did not then exist;
it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we
rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed;
which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and
shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.
... St. Augustine (354-430), The City of God [426]
_______________________________________________________________
Where, then, does happiness lie? In forgetfulness, not
indulgence, of the self. In escape from sensual appetites, not
in their satisfaction. We live in a dark, self-enclosed
prison, which is all we see or know if our glance is fixed ever
downward. To lift it upward, becoming aware of the wide,
luminous universe outside -- this alone is happiness. At its
highest level, such happiness is the ecstasy that mystics have
inadequately described. At more humdrum levels, it is human
love; the delights and beauties of our dear earth, its colors
and shapes and sounds; the enchantment of understanding and
laughing, and all other exercise of such faculties as we
possess; the marvel of the meaning of everything, fitfully
glimpsed, inadequately expounded, but ever present.
... Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Jesus Rediscovered [1969]
_______________________________________________________________
proclaiming the character of another.
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965, British Prime Minister)
==================================
It is better to deserve an honor and not receive it, than to
receive one, and not deserve it!
Mark Twain
(1835-1910, American Humorist, Writer)
========================================
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot
today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didnt get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die;
so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha
===========================================
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900, German Philosopher)
============================================
In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life;
it goes on!
Leo Buscaglia
(American Expert on Love, Lecturer, Author)
============================================
We get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin
with God. We are right when, and only when, we stand in a
right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so
long as we stand in any other position.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.
Joe E. Lewis
============================================
The Christian clearly understands that Jesus does not
reveal all that is signified by the word "God", but only as
much as could be revealed through a perfect human personality
living in absolute obedience to God's will. The knowledge of
God that men have by virtue of Jesus' revelation is quite
enough for men to live by in this life, and to live gloriously
and thankfully by, Christians maintain -- the knowledge that
God the Creator, the Almighty and Eternal, the Lord of history,
is man's Heavenly Father, and that love might well be, and
indeed is, the ultimate meaning of human existence.
... Frederick Ward Kates (1920- ),
A Moment Between Two Eternities [1965]
_______________________________________________________________
A Christian cannot help being free, because in the pursuit
and attainment of his object, no one can either hinder or
retard him.
... Lyof N. Tolstoy (1828-1910)
_______________________________________________________________
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain
why you did it wrong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1819-1892, American Poet)
============================================
You have your season, and you have but your season; neither
can you lie down in peace, until you have some persuasion that
your work as well as your life is at an end.
... John Owen (1616-1683)
_______________________________________________________________
My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch
him do it.
Clarence Buddinton Kelland
============================================
The evidence for Christian truth is not exhaustive, but it
is sufficient. Too often, Christianity has not been tried and
found wanting -- it has been found demanding, and not tried.
... John Baillie (1886-1960)
_______________________________________________________________
It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist)
============================================
The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open
one.
Malcomb S. Forbes
(1919-1990, American Publisher, Businessman)
============================================
In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
(1879-1955, German-born American Physicist)
============================================
The blessed and inviting truth is that God is the most
winsome of all beings and in our worship of Him we should
find unspeakable pleasure.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]
_______________________________________________________________
There was no point of controversy between Jesus and the
Jews; Jesus brought no new doctrine unto them. Jesus said, What
the masters in Israel teach, what the Pharisees and the Scribes
teach, is perfectly correct. There was no dogma which was the
cause of controversy between Jesus and the nation; there was no
new custom that Jesus introduced: He went into the Temple... He
observed the ordinances and festivals of Israel. What was the
subject of dispute and controversy between Jesus and the Jews?
It was no doctrine, it was no innovation, it was Jesus Himself
whom they rejected. There was an antipathy in them to the
person of Jesus: it was the Lord Himself whom they hated,
because they hated the Father... But Jesus knew... that it was
because He was one with the Father, because He was the express
image of His being, because He was the perfect manifestation of
the character of God, that they hated Him; and therefore Jesus
was pained, not because they hated Him, but because they hated
in Him the Father.
... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel [1911]
_______________________________________________________________
That God loves us in spite of our sin is the Gospel truth;
but this truth can only be shared by words, since good deeds
are easily [taken to show] the opposite -- that we love God.
Faith is not understood when [it is] only demonstrated by life.
The more sanctified a life without the verbal witness, the
greater the danger of the Christian's goodness getting in the
way. Should a person by the grace of God become easier to live
with, he doesn't need to call attention to it: it will speak
for itself. He can instead seek to balance the reverse effect
of the good image by occasionally speaking of the unfavorable
realities within, those parts that are still changing. In this
way, his external behavior by contrast can point to the power
of God, rather than to the effort of man. When we decrease, He
can increase, but not until.
... Paul G. Johnson (1931- ), Buried Alive [1968]
_______________________________________________________________
[God desires] not that He may say to them, "Look how mighty
I am, and go down upon your knees and worship", for power alone
was never yet worthy of prayer; but that He may say thus:
"Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my
strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get
only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way.
There is no other way."
... George Macdonald (1824-1905),
Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood [1866]
_______________________________________________________________
What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice
on our account? And what is our Joy, which He says shall be
full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on
our account, when He rejoiced in foreknowing and predestinating
us; but that joy was not in us, because we did not then exist;
it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we
rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed;
which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and
shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.
... St. Augustine (354-430), The City of God [426]
_______________________________________________________________
Where, then, does happiness lie? In forgetfulness, not
indulgence, of the self. In escape from sensual appetites, not
in their satisfaction. We live in a dark, self-enclosed
prison, which is all we see or know if our glance is fixed ever
downward. To lift it upward, becoming aware of the wide,
luminous universe outside -- this alone is happiness. At its
highest level, such happiness is the ecstasy that mystics have
inadequately described. At more humdrum levels, it is human
love; the delights and beauties of our dear earth, its colors
and shapes and sounds; the enchantment of understanding and
laughing, and all other exercise of such faculties as we
possess; the marvel of the meaning of everything, fitfully
glimpsed, inadequately expounded, but ever present.
... Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Jesus Rediscovered [1969]
_______________________________________________________________
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
