Daily Stop & Thinks

STOP AND THINK – It is easier to encourage your students to be learners when you are a learner yourself. (Jillian Jones, 1st year teacher in an international school)

Jones may not have had much experience, but she has learned a very important lesson about teaching. After all, teaching is the best way to learn. It takes a bit of humility, perhaps, to acknowledge that you’re still learning, but it encourages the student to know that his teacher is right there with him in the process. After all, the student learns best from another learner.

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

STOP AND THINK – There was a definite process by which one made people into friends; it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time. (Rebecca West, 20th century English author)

In our busy 21st century life, who has time to talk with someone for “hours at a time”? The writer implies that one-on-one conversations—including both talking and listening (the hard part, no doubt)—is necessary to develop real friendships. Not e-mailing, blogging, or texting, but conversations. Can we restore that lot art? It would be greatly to our advantage!

Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance (Proverbs 1:5). To answer before listening— that is folly and shame (Proverbs 18:13).

STOP AND THINK – – Judgmentalism assumes that you have the right to change someone else. Well, you don’t. You only have the right to choose how you will change and behave. (Vince Poscente, motivational speaker)

Are you often inclined to judge others for their words and actions without full knowledge of them and their circumstances? That’s called prejudice. We need to leave the responsibility to change, when necessary, to others—unless the changes are ones we need to make. We are responsible for them!

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)

STOP AND THINK – Maintaining a complicated life is a great way to avoid changing it. (Elaine St. James, author of Simplify Your Life)

Life has become extremely complicated for many American families. Parents have their work (often more than one job), social lives, and civic commitments. Children have school, soccer, ballet, music practice, and more. Getting off the merry-go-round is difficult. Complexity itself is the enemy, and before they realize it, life has passed them by.

Yet we urge you . . . to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:10-12)

STOP AND THINK – Want to experience [change]? Start serving others. It’s guaranteed to break the grip of self-centeredness in your life. (Mike Lee, American pastor)

Lee actually used the word “transformation,” which speaks more directly to the nature of the change. It’s like the dramatic metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. The analogy may suggest that within us is the possibility of significant change, undoubtedly more spiritual than physical. We should work toward such a personal transformation.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

STOP AND THINK – If we fail, then fail at the right stuff—fail trying, not watching. (Bob Goff, best-selling author)

Like it or not, failure is a part of life. If you’ve never failed, it may mean you haven’t tried. We must not let failures or the fear of them keep us from moving forward. So, the next time you fail, remember the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Be sure to learn from your failures, and continue working toward something truly worthwhile.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

STOP AND THINK – Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. (Denis Piderot, 18th century French philosopher, art critic, and writer)

Some have thought that we live in a generation and culture of mediocrity. That’s probably not entirely true. But it may well be that whatever achievements our generation has accomplished are the results of extraordinary ambition—a passion that pushes a person to an extreme effort that enables him to reach higher than even he ever thought possible.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness … knowledge … self-control … perseverance … godliness … mutual affection … love. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

STOP AND THINK – Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, late United States Senator)

This significant statement should be remembered in times of heated discussion and debate. We all have opinions that we arrive at by reasoning and from a variety of sources. While we must allow others to have ideas different from ours, in order to discover truth we must evaluate those ideas on the basis of the facts, which are the same for everyone.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13)

STOP AND THINK – We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is awaiting us. (Joseph Campbell, American writer and lecturer)

Does that mean that we shouldn’t plan? No, Campbell’s statement is an encouragement to think “outside the box,” to consider opportunities online casinos beyond our limited vision and plan. He also puts it another way, thinking, perhaps, of the lifecycle of snakes, “The old skin has to be shed before the new one is to come.” So, when you plan ahead, also look for new horizons.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

STOP AND THINK – It is only romance that is blind; love, not all. (Maureen Mullarkey, author)

Have you ever said that love is blind? True love according to Mullarkey, however, “is clear-eyed; it has tooth. Love does not blush to admit that among those we are called to love are a thumping number of unlikeables.” Sounds like a biblical principle when she says, “But we are called to love our neighbor according to his needs, not our own.”

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:7, 8)

STOP AND THINK – Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. (Mahatma Gandhi, 20th century nationalist in India)

The freedom to make mistakes or to be wrong. Wow, that’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? Gandhi went on to say, “It passes my comprehension how human beings . . . can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.” After all, we learn most by mistakes—whether ours or someone else’s. Don’t let fear of failure keep you from moving forward.

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. (1 Peter 2:16)

STOP AND THINK – If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm. (Warren Wiersbe, Pastor and author)

“What a beautiful rainbow!” we might exclaim when we see that multi-colored arc in the sky. Of course, it’s the result of sunshine breaking through the moisture in the air. Quite often, as in the case of Noah and the great flood recorded in the Bible, the rainbow appears after a great storm. To see the bow, we must have the rain, but it brings a promise of hope.

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. (Genesis 9:16)