Perspective I When things go wrong: Look at the bigger picture. (Source unknown) Good advice! When we run into difficulties in our pursuit for success, we may be discouraged and think that it will never work out. Everything is doomed! Such a perspective looks too long...
Keep Trying Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th. (Julie Andrews, English actress) The renowned inventor Thomas Edison enlarged on Andrews’ comment. He earlier had said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” If he had...
Experience II When was the last time you did something for the first time? (Sign in a restaurant) Actually, this is a line from a song recorded in 2017 by Darius Rucker. It’s a challenge to some of us—perhaps those in the senior citizens class—who don’t like change or...
Experience I Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. (Bill Katip, college president) Sometimes when we face a trying situation, we’re tempted to give up and move on to something else. But Katip’s counsel is to look at it positively. What new way may be opening up?...
Circumstances Nothing great has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe something inside them was superior to circumstances. (Bruce Barton, late American congressman) How many times have you been overcome by the difficult circumstances of life? They cover...
Motives The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be. (Dalai Lama, Buddhist monk) We do what we do for a variety of reasons. It may be fear that forces us to take certain actions to protect ourselves. It may be ambition that...
Gifts The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. (Emile Zola, 19th century French novelist) We are so blessed to enjoy the giftedness of artists of all kinds. We enjoy their paintings, their literary efforts, their thespian activity,...
Worry Worry is assuming responsibility for things that are out of our control. That’s pretty much everything. (Charles Swindoll, author) Swindoll’s observation is not all that encouraging, is it? Do I have to live in an environment where “everything” is out of my...
Religion Either our religion will transform us, or we will transform our religion to suit our sympathies. (Michael Horton, syndicated broadcaster) For millennia men have been searching for God. They have made images from their imagination and, often, in their own...
Feelings That is the way we are made: we don’t reason, where we feel; we just feel (Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court) “Follow your heart; tell him/her how you really feel” is an oft-repeated suggestion in a Hallmark movie. That’s not a new...
Confidence Arrogance is the evil twin of confidence. (Tom Avey, non-profit administrator) Avey illustrates his principle: “Confidence listens; arrogance doesn’t. Confidence likes and seeks counsel; arrogance doesn’t. Confidence can be reproved; arrogance cannot.”...
Dialogue Dialogue… affords the opportunities to choose the best of all available options. (Musa A. Mambula, Nigerian author & speaker) With the divisiveness that seems to have paralyzed our country, we would hope that some sort of effective dialogue could be...