Labor I Work is no disgrace. The disgrace is idleness. (Greek proverb) On this annual Labor Day, we celebrate the workers of the past who have made continual improvements to the way we can live our personal and community lives today. Thanks, too, to the laborers who...
Patience Of all the life-lessons, the phrase, “Just be patient,” is among the most difficult for all human beings (Andy Simkins, minister). Why is it so difficult to be patient? Is it because our agenda is so important to us that we can’t adjust to someone else’s...
Discovery Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century American essayist) Poet Robert Frost put it this way, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that...
Devotion Discipline says, "I need to." Duty says, "I ought to." Devotion says, "I want to." (Adrian Rogers, Bible Teacher) The great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, put it this way, “People think it’s discipline. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great...
Keep On Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. (Babe Ruth, late baseball start) Babe Ruth held the record for having struck out more times than anyone else in his era. But he wasn’t noted for strike outs but for home runs—a record he held...
Gratitude Gratitude is the antidote for envy. (Tim Sprankle, pastor) Envy can be a subtle enemy of contentment. We may not covet someone’s property or wealth, but we might begin to wish we had a neighbor’s skill with tools or a friend’s vocal talent. Such longings...
Examples I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself. (Joyce Maynard, novelist and journalist) We might tell our kids to do as we say. Why? “Because I say so!” That is hardly a satisfactory answer, but we continue to offer it...
Genius Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple. (C.W. Ceran, 20th century German journalist) By itself, that’s a good illustration of the principle. More than a few wives will remember the times their husbands "knew exactly where they were going"...
Ideals Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but. . . following them you will reach your destiny. (Carl Schurz, German American reformer) You won’t fully reach your ideals, either, Schurz says. But like the sailor following the...
Finishing II Finishing well isn’t something you do at the end of your life—it is what you determine to do every day of your life. (Neil Cole, author) Most of us don’t like to think about discipline. It implies too much about rules, hard work, and punishment. If we...
Finishing I Most people are starters and stoppers, not finishers. (Christine Caine, Australian author) Caine’s statement probably strikes a sense of guilt in many of us. How many projects have we started with enthusiasm but given up before they were finished? How...
Mistakes Learn from the mistakes of others; you may not live long enough to make them all yourself. (Jim Tressel, college president) It may sound rather trite, but we all know that we make lots of mistakes, and the longer we live, the more we will likely make. So,...