Daily Stop & Thinks

Courage I

Have the courage to act instead of react. (Oliver Wendell Holmes, 19^th poet)

A lot of us procrastinate and then end up reacting to situations rather than being ready for them. Too often, then, it’s a knee-jerk response that may be more harmful than helpful. As Holmes suggests, it might take a bit of courage to prepare for upcoming circumstances and be ready to face up to them with ideas already in mind. Get a jump on what’s coming.

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. (1 Peter 1:13)

Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Choices

In every single thing you do, you are choosing a direction. Your life is a product of choices. (Kathleen Hall, author)

What will it be? Bacon and eggs? Just toast and coffee? Or a full-blown breakfast smorgasbord? That may be the first choice of the day (after deciding whether to get up or stay in bed). But it’s only one of hundreds you’ll make during the day. As you make those choices, how do they fit into your life’s goals? What are you deciding about life’s most significant issues?

Choose today whom you will serve. . . . But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

Joy

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. (Anthony J. D’Angelo, educator and author)

Have you ever known someone who seemed to bring gloom and doom wherever he or she went? You knew that when that person joined the crowd, things would begin to be somber and gray. How wonderful the person who always brings joy and light-heartedness into the room. Be the sunshine in someone’s life today!

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health. (Proverbs 3:13; 15:30)

Wisdom

In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. (Bertram Russell)

It’s important to have confidence in what you think and believe, but it’s foolish to think that you know it all or that you’re always right in your opinions. In fact, it’s a great learning practice to pause long enough occasionally to test your ideas. Do a little study; have a meaningful discussion with others familiar with the topic. Always be willing to examine and to learn.

Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. (Proverbs 2:3-4)

Endurance

I changed what I could, and what I couldn’t, I endured. (Dorothy Vaughn, late mathematician)

Vaughn was a mathematical genius who provided significant help to NASA in the launching of early space flights. Her amazing story was told in the compelling movie, “Hidden Figures,” when Vaughn and several other minority women overcame extreme prejudice and became the central figures in the space venture. It’s an important lesson when you face the need for change.

Being strengthened with all power. . . so that you may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:11)

Veterans Day

America’s veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 243 years ago. (Steve Buyer, former Indiana congressman)

It’s Veterans Day in the U.S., a time to honor the men and women who have served in the military to protect and preserve our country’s freedom. We may have parades and special events to honor them, but, as author Erick Rheam has said, “If you want to thank a soldier, be the kind of American worth fighting for.”

Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. (2 Timothy 2:4)

Learning

The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write. They are those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. (Alvin Toffler, late futurist author)

Millions of illiterate people around the world no doubt long for the opportunity to learn how to read and write. Many organizations are working diligently to fulfill those longings. But Toffler has a different slant on literacy. Those who are unable to continue learning, in his view, are the really illiterate. He seems to be saying that the lack of effort to learn is the real tragedy.

Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Proverbs 1:5)

Education’s Purpose

Education is more than the accumulation of knowledge or the mastery of skills, honorable objectives but different from the “drawing out” by which education changes who we are. (Source unknown)

We’d like to think that learning a lot about a given subject or mastering a particular skill is what it means to be educated. That may be true to a certain extent, but that knowledge and those skills may not have brought about any change in us as people. What is most important is not what we know or what we can do, but who we are.

God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. (1 Kings 4:29)

Don’t Fear

Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It’s the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time than we fall down. (Arianna Huffington, Greek-American author)

The fear of failure seems to be universal. No one really wants to fall short of his hopes and expectations. Most of us understand that life has its difficulties and you can’t always win—whether it’s an athletic event, music or drama competition, or climbing the corporate ladder. It’s trying again that is the certain way to progress and achievement.

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. (Proverbs 24:16)

Creativity

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. (Pablo Picasso, 20^th century Spanish artist)

Scribbling all over the paper, learning to keep in the lines, drawing weird pictures—all the creativity of young, growing minds. For a lot of us adults, we have to ask, “Where did that creativity (and fun) go?” What could we do to assist those young, flexible minds to continue creating? Think of all that could be accomplished with ever-growing creative minds!

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. (Romans 12:6)

Faith

Faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing. (Victor Hugo, 19^th century French author)

In the modern era, faith is little appreciated. Everything must be proved in a test tube or by scientific experience. In reality, of course, even the scientist has a great deal of faith in his or her research and testing. As Hugo suggests, the person without faith is to be pitied. But, beware, it isn’t your faith that’s essential, it’s the object of your faith. What do you believe in?

There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith. (Romans 3:30)

Elections

No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. (Winston Churchill, WW II prime minister of Great Britain)

Today is Election Day in the U.S. With all the rancor and spirited debate prior to the final vote and the temptation to give up on our form of government, consider Churchill’s continuing remarks: “Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability. (Proverbs 28:2)