Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. (Oren Arnold, novelist, journalist, humorist) There are only two shopping days left. Have you finished your shopping? Here are some more of Arnold’s gift-giving...
Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection. (Pindar, 5th century B.C. Greek lyric poet)) As Pindar suggested centuries ago, it isn’t the size or the monetary value of the gift that is important. It’s the love...
The joy of brightening other lives . . . becomes for us the magic of the holidays. (W. C. Jones, 19th-20th century government official) Jones’ words are worth considering in this last week before Christmas. In addition to “brightening other lives,” he included...
I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another, it’s about the Christian ethic, it’s about kindness. (Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer) Fisher expresses a very popular thought about the Christmas holidays. “Peace...
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a spirit of love. (Hamilton Wright Maybie, 19th-20th century American essayist) In this final week before Christmas, many will be joyful and expectant, looking forward to being with family and friends and opening...
He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. (Roy L. Smith, author) It’s just one week until the biggest holiday of the year. It’s not just children who are hoping for a really great gift under the tree on the 25th. If we’re putting our hopes...
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. (Mahatma Gandhi, 19th-20th century leader of the India independence movement) Because we don’t know when our lives will end (by natural causes or accidents), Gandhi suggests that we fill up...
He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of his own. (Charles Spurgeon, 19th century British preacher) Some people are so proud that they act as if they know it all and don’t need anyone else’s thoughts or ideas. We all know how...
When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project . . . you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. (Patanjali , Indian author) Patanjali continues: “. . . your mind transcends limitations, your...
You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. (John Bunyan, 17th century English writer) Bunyan forces us to think carefully about how we live our lives. He argues that doing something—no matter how noble—with the...
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. (W. T. Purkiser, preacher and author) It’s common in prayer to thank God for His blessings without being very specific. An old hymn encourages us not only to count our...
Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower where ever I thought a flower would grow. (Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States) Lincoln had the unique gift of expressing great truths in the simple terms. His analogy of...