Daily Stop & Thinks

Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless. (Morris Chang, businessman)

Strategy is important, but no matter how carefully planned, a project can still fail. On the other hand, as businessman Naveen Jain says, “Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution. A great strategy alone won’t win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling.” It takes both!

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity (Proverbs 21:5).

Demonstrate courage on the outside, even when you don’t feel it on the inside. (Ann Valentine, college president)

No doubt many military men and women who have survived wartime experiences would admit to being scared when the shells were firing. Being frightened in times of peril doesn’t mean you’re a coward; it’s a normal reaction to danger. As Nelson Mandela put it, “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Take courage as you fulfill your duties, and may the Lord be with those who do what is right (2 Chronicles 19:11).

When the well is dry, we know the worth of water. (Benjamin Franklin, inventor, writer)

We who live where water is plentiful and relatively inexpensive don’t really appreciate what a luxury it is in much of the world. We just take it for granted. It’s like so many other things in life; we don’t appreciate their real value until we lose them. Then, we begin to appreciate their worth. We should use them wisely and share with those who don’t have what we have.

But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life (John 4:14).

Knowledge and character have little value until it (sec.) is applied. (Jacqueline Hodges, educator)

The Bible says that wise people treasure knowledge, and certainly it’s helpful to store up facts and data that relate to life and living. It’s also good to establish a reputation of high moral character. But both of these valued traits, as Hodges suggests, are only of limited personal value if they are not translated into productive and meaningful work.

Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge . . . and knowledge with self-control. . . . The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be (1 Peter 1:6-8).

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did. (Sarah Caldwell, opera conductor)

Life is a continual learning experience. Caldwell suggests that the opportunities for learning are everywhere. If we’re not learning, we’re not growing. And we never know when what we’ve learned at any given time will prove to be just what we need to know at just the right time sometime later. So, we must keep our eyes and minds open to those potential learning moments.

Take a lesson from the ants . . . Learn from their ways and become wise! (Proverbs 6:6).

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon (E. M. Forster, English novelist)

Remember how difficult it was to wean your baby from milk to more solid foods? It was often frustrating and messy, wasn’t it? Yet, it was a necessary step in the growth of your child. The same is true in learning for all of us. We need to move on from the simple, spoon-fed truths to the deeper challenges that will enable us to think clearly and develop greater wisdom.

Someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. (Hebrews 5:13-15).

May you and your family be blessed as you celebrate the true meaning of Easter, from the reflection of Good Friday to the joy of Easter Sunday and the promise of eternal life. (Author unknown)

Many will enjoy today as a holiday for parades and Easter egg hunts, but Christians around the world will celebrate the capstone of their faith in recognition of the miracle of the resurrection and take time to worship Jesus Christ, who overcame sin and death. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the ultimate demonstration of God’s plan to restore mankind to himself.

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live (John 11:25).

We have become a generation of people who worship our work, who work at our play, and who play at our worship. (Quoted by Leland Ryken, author)

Ryken’s quote is illustrated well by the way some people make light of Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter, which ends tomorrow. Lent is intended to be a time of careful spiritual thought, often including giving up patterns of behavior that may be a hindrance to worship. Serious Christians, however celebrate the sacrifice of God’s Son to give us a relationship with Him.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

Practice mercy and forgiveness throughout as a lesson that symbolizes the love shown through his crucifixion. (Unarine Ramaru, university professor)

Today is celebrated in the Christian world as Good Friday, the day when Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. Even the non-Christian can recognize this event as a demonstration of love that exemplifies mercy and forgiveness from a holy God. And for the followers of Jesus, it is the foundation for their faith in a loving God.

[Follow] the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God (Ephesians 5:2).

People will cling to an unsatisfactory way of life rather than change to get something better for fear of getting something worse. (Eric Hoffer, 20^th century social philosopher)

Do you recognize yourself in Hoffer’s statement? Have you ever hesitated to make a change because you were uncertain—maybe even fearful of the outcome? We all have, no doubt. If you’re in an unacceptable situation, the challenge is to think and plan carefully, take all the precautions you can, and move forward with confidence.

My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! (Psalm 57:7).

If you do not like it, change it and if you cannot change it, change the way you think about it. (Mary Englebrat, graphic artist)

We often see things we’d like to change—it may be as simple as correcting a typo or as complex as reprogramming our computer. As Englebrat suggests, when we can’t make the change, we must think differently about the problem and find a way to think about it positively. Perhaps it’s a chance to develop a new ability or discover a new friend who can help solve the dilemma.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance (Romans 5:3).

A sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have, but how many leaders you create. (Mahatma Gandhi, late Indian activist)

It’s been noted that you’re not a good leader if no one is following you. That’s obvious, isn’t it? When your leadership is over, is there anyone to take the reins and lead the enterprise forward? If not, how successfully have you led? So, Gandhi’s comment is more challenging than merely counting the number of followers. Successful leading demands helpful training.

Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher (Luke 6:40).