Daily Stop & Thinks

You can’t do everything, but everyone can do something. (Max Lucado, best-selling author and preacher)

It’s simple, but true, isn’t it? Yet, we often don’t do anything about the needs around us because they are so great. There are so many hungry, so many homeless, so many disadvantaged—we just can’t take it all in. That excuse wears pretty thin, however, when we may be very close to at least one such sufferer whom we could help if just a little bit.

Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up (Ecclesiastes 4:10). And we urge you, brothers and sisters . . . encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent. (Billy Sunday, 19^th-20^th century American evangelist)

People sometimes feel their lack of achievement is because they don’t have any special aptitude. We see others making advances with their sports, music, or intellectual gifts, and we think we just don’t have similar abilities. The real reason for our lack of accomplishment, however, may simply be that we haven’t yet set any goals for our lives.

So we make it our goal to please [the Lord] (2 Corinthians 5:9).

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seed you plant. (Robert Louis Stevenson, 19^th century Scottish novelist and poet)

We all like to see the results of our work as soon as possible. Most of us are pretty impatient, so we “can’t wait,” to see the outcome we’ve been working for. But, as every farmer knows, it takes time—and a lot of other elements—to produce fruit. Diligent work and patience are required to see a bountiful harvest.

Be patient . . . See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. (James 5:7)

An injustice committed against anyone is a threat to everyone. (Charles Montesquieu, 18^th century French lawyer and political philosopher)

There is a lot of talk today about “marginalized” people: minority people groups that are often ignored: the elderly, the poor, and those of certain ethnic or religious backgrounds. When one of them is treated unjustly, it may go unnoticed. If not addressed, however, such discrimination will ultimately produce injustice to the larger populace.

Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity. . . . When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. . . . The righteous care about justice for the poor. (Proverbs 22:8; 21:15; 29:7)

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in. (Greek proverb)

Gardeners and farmers like to see their plants grow and produce in a single season. Landscape architects probably have a more distant horizon in their plans. They think long-term, envisioning a full-grown scene with both perennials and annuals. Likewise, wise people think and plan beyond the immediate future. They hope to make a lasting difference.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

People don’t choose to be courageous; they just decide not to be afraid any more. (Bob Goff, best-selling author)

Courage can be demonstrated only when there is some kind of danger that tests one’s character. Fear of personal harm or just fear of failure will keep many people from moving ahead or taking a chance in an uncertain venture. We can overcome the fear by facing it and determining to proceed regardless of the unknown future. That takes courage.

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13).

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. (Jamie Paolinetti, TV writer/producer and former professional cyclist)

Someone might argue that we know only what we know. We can’t work or plan beyond our knowledge. But, we can dream, can’t we? That’s where imagination comes in. Progress in science and philosophy are the result of inventors and creators who think “outside the box.” If we ask God for wisdom, we will discover there is more to learn and more to know.

[It is God] who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).

Parents, investing time in helping your child develop needed character is way more important than tons of extracurricular activities.

Whoever wrote this statement is certainly in tune with today’s ultra-active society. Parents are taxiing their kids to more and more athletic and social events: soccer, Little League, dance classes, etc. Each of these activities can be tools to teach character traits, but too often they are merely time consumers with little lasting benefit in character development.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6).

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome. (Booker T. Washington, 19^th-20^th century American educator)

We often regard someone who has achieved a high position in business, entertainment, or politics as being successful. Obviously, they have moved up the ladder in their respective endeavors, but the secret to their success is the hard work they did to arrive there. Washington suggests that the real test for success is what they overcame to get there.

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4).

How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. (George Washington Carver, 19^th century American botanist and inventor)

That sounds like very sound advice, encouraging us to be less self-centered and more aware of the needs of those around us. The most gripping idea, however, is what Carver went on to say, “Because someday in life you will have been all of these.” It reminds us again that we should be alert and open to others and the stage of life where they might need our help.

And we urge you . . . [to] help the weak, be patient with everyone (1 Thessalonians 5:14). God . . . will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them (Hebrews 6:10).

If there was to be independence, self-sufficiency, or freedom, then we first had to understand, accept, and discharge our responsibilities. (Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)

When he uttered these words in a commencement address at Hillsdale College, Justice Thomas was comparing the attitude of people in his generation with that of the current generation he was addressing. His words are worth our considering today: “There [can] be no freedom without each of us discharging our responsibilities.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind (Ecclesiastes 12:13). If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them (James 4:17).

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself. (Robert E. Lee, Civil War general)

It’s a frightening sight to see someone out of control, a person who, perhaps, is addicted to a dangerous substance that takes control of the user. Others just can’t control their appetites or their temper. They are the people, as Lee suggests, you don’t want to be in a leadership role, where they have authority over others. Self-control is an essential requisite for leaders.

Now the [leader] is to be above reproach . . . temperate, self-controlled, respectable . . .       (1 Timothy 3:2).