Anticipation New Year's Eve is like every other night… yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. (Hamilton Wright Mabie, 19th-20th century essayist) Mabie also said, “there is no pause in the march of...
Mistakes I hope that in the year to come you make mistakes… (Neil Gaiman, English author) That’s not a good New Year’s blessing, is it? Hear Gaiman out: “because if you are making mistakes you are making new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing...
Leadership Leadership is “enabling others to do what they don’t want to do in order to be able to be what they want to be.” (Bill Hull, author) “Leadership” has many definitions, and Hull’s is certainly a challenge. How do you get people “to do what they don’t want to...
Others Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others. (Helen Keller, 20th century author and lecturer) When you realize the handicaps that Helen Keller endured from childhood, you have to marvel at her statement that “Life is an exciting...
Hope In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. (Robert Frost, 19th-20th century American poet) The after-Christmas spirit is difficult for a lot of people. The excitement of the holidays has gone with taking down the tree, removing...
The Day After One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly. (Andy Rooney, late TV commentator) Isn’t it part of the holiday fun to pick up the gift wrappings and trash after the fun...
Christmas God walked down the stairs of heaven with a Baby in His arms. (Paul Scherer, late seminary professor) Scherer’s comment doesn’t sound much like a seminary professor’s definition of Christmas, but it certainly states the most important event in history in...
Christmas Eve The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. (Burton Hills, 20th century member of Canadian House of Commons) “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is a popular but sadly emotional seasonal song....
Give a smile Perhaps the best yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. (from a Norman Rockwell calendar) It’s just two days till Christmas, and we’ve enjoyed all the decorations for several days now. The house—inside and out, probably—is covered with lights...
Success In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success—if you are willing to learn from it. (Paul Allen, late co-founder of Microsoft) No one likes to fail, and often we just want to put that failure way back in our minds—just forget about it....
Protest First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. (Mahatma Gandhi, 19th-20th century independence leader in India) Gandhi demonstrated what progress was like in the long battle for independence in India. Are there some lessons...
Friendship A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. (Donna Roberts, imprisoned felon) When you learn that Roberts is on death row in an Ohio prison, you have to wonder how many friends she has...