Identity Real and sustainable change in people’s lives begins with a change in the sense of their identity. (Rich Yauger, pastor) People tend to find their identity in a variety of ways. Seeing the eccentric dress and actions of fans at athletic events, you identify...
Moving On Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as steppingstones to rise above them. (Author unknown) What do we do with our mistakes? Deny or ignore them? Pretend they didn’t happen? Are our minds continually...
Heavenly Minded The love of heaven makes one heavenly. (William Shakespeare) Shakespeare’s comment in Hamlet, Act I, makes us aware that what we set our mind on will often determine our actions and reactions, even our feelings. Focusing on classical, jazz, or big band...
Personality One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is a new belief about himself or herself. (Sam Adeyemi, TV broadcaster) Personality determines both how one sees himself and how others see him as well. Some are shy and withdrawn, perhaps indicating an...
The “Little” Things The more you think about things, the bigger they become and still nothing is resolved. (www.streamingfaith.com) There’s a traffic jam on your way to the store that seems to go on forever. It’s one of those “little” annoyances in life that we...
Failure #2 Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something. (Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist) Mistakes aren’t final or fatal. For every successful event in a person’s life there have no doubt been numerous failures as we attempt something...
Failure #1 Everyone who succeeds has failures. Successful people make their failures work for them. (Kenneth J. Brown, author) Failure doesn’t have to be final. Your response to your errors is the key to whether you remain stuck in the failure or use it to move on....
Hypocrisy [A leader] "should be what he is calling others to be.” (John Piper, author) “Do as I say, not as I do” is the old saw that parents are often accused of. And it is true that a mom or dad may honestly have to acknowledge that their own behavior isn’t what...
Plain Speech I know that my plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth? (Socrates, ancient Greek philosopher) In a highly political time (like ours), plain speech is rare. Sometimes very fancy speech hides...
Aging Well Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. (Franz Kafka, late Bohemian novelist) This is not so much a promise of immortality as an observation about growing old with full appreciation of life. As we age, we sometimes become a bit morose,...
Living You better live every day like it's your last because one day you're going to be right. (Ray Charles, late American singer, songwriter) Most of us probably don’t live with that thought in mind very often. We go about living as if there is no end to it. We...
Plans #2 We are all faced with a series of great opportunities disguised as impossible situations. (Charles Swindoll, pastor and author) “To do or not to do” might be the question when we have to decide about an opportunity that comes with difficult complications. The...