With Love If our zeal is embittered by expressions of anger, invective, or scorn, we may think we are doing service to the cause of truth, when in reality we shall only bring it into discredit. (John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace”) Although Newton wrote in the 18th...
Fragility We are surrounded by, and are part of, a society of emotionally fragile quitters. (John Piper, author) People seem to be so easily offended nowadays. We are hurt when someone just hints that we might be mistaken. We fly off the handle quickly at an...
Speaking Truth Our truth will not be heard until our grace is felt. (Jim Swanson, YMCA executive) The late Jack Kemp said something similar: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” When someone disagrees with us, we need to be...
Encouragement Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody. (Peg Fitzpatrick, social media author) What do you remember about the people you’ve been with when you separate? Were you discouraged or upset or did you go away encouraged? Isn’t it great when you walk...
Wisdom Wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. (The Bible) No doubt, the best test for the veracity of someone’s ideas and opinions is that they prove to be true in experience. “The proof is in the pudding,” they say. As you can tell what kind...
Integrity It doesn’t matter what they say about you as long as it isn’t true. (www.streamingfaith.com) If people are saying you’ve done wrong, you’ve lied, or have otherwise questioned your integrity, yes, this statement is good. If the evil things said about you...
Truth-telling Fear comes from focusing on the costs of speaking up. Courage comes from focusing on the costs of staying silent. (Ashley Judd, American actress) With so many “peaceful demonstrations” and activists of all kinds taking to public forums, there is...
Expectations 2 It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him. (John Steinbeck, 20th century Nobel Prize winning writer) This says a lot about expectations, doesn’t it? If someone senses that not much is expected of him or her, very...
Expectations 1 It’s hard to know what expectations you have until they’re not met. (Jeff Redland, college campus pastor) Sometimes we really don’t know what our expectations are for a certain situation. We want a happy outcome, but what will that look like? When the...
Time I will live in the past, the present, and the future! (Charles Dickens, 19th century English writer) We often hear that we can’t live in the past or future, so we must concentrate on the here and now. However, Dickens may have a point. Our past certainly has...
Humility 2 True greatness is accompanied by humility. (Rob Singleton, author and storyteller) The fame of many popular artists, actors, sports figures, and politicians is often rather short-lived. The next “great” person on stage or in the record book will usually...
Humility 1 The know-it-all has nothing to learn. (Antonin Scalia, late US supreme court justice) He said, “[The] attitude of humility before the breadth of knowledge mankind has accumulated, and before the even greater breadth of the unknown, is the beginning of...