Quote of the day:
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln Reflection: Sometimes we think we don’t have time to prepare for a project. When actually if we took a little time to plan and prepare our tools we would save time as the following story illustrates. Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked a timber merchant for a job, and he got it. The pay was good and so were the work conditions. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought in 18 trees. “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Keep it up!” Motivated by the boss’ words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring in 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring in 10 trees. Day after day, he was bringing in fewer and fewer trees. “I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked. “Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I’ve been busy trying to cut trees.” Now would be a good time to sharpen your axe and get ready for the next year. If you haven’t done so already, set some time aside to prepare for the new year. (The next two Motivational Minutes that I will send out on Dec 1st and Dec 3rd have ideas and tips on how to do this.)
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Quote of the day:
“Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately it is not fashionable to talk with them.” — Mother Teresa Reflection: I read the following words below and found them quite thought provoking. Many celebrities are known by their causes. They host benefits for those who suffer with AIDS, rock concerts to help the victims of earthquakes or floods, and telethons to raise money and awareness of diseases. Raising money for the plight of the helpless is in vogue today. Jesus had a soft spot for the poor and needy too. But He did much more than host a benefit concert or raise money. He got eyeball to eyeball with them and their suffering. He touched the leper, healed the blind, and spoke with the widow, the adulterous woman, and the Samaritan at the well. His approach was scandalous. It was radical. Jesus calls His followers to follow His example to help the poor and defend the defenseless. Will you adopt an orphan or befriend a homeless individual? Will you volunteer in a soup kitchen, food pantry or shelter? Raising money helps fund causes for the poor, but it is only when we get personal, when we look into their eyes and touch them, that we love the poor the way Jesus loves them. And that’s radical.—Author unknown Even if you are not a follower of Jesus, this message is clear about helping those that are less fortunate than us. Are there ways you can get more personal in your giving? (For ideas check out the Radical Giving site) Quote of the day:
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” — Henry Ward Beecher Reflection: Thanksgiving is an annual national holiday observed across North America. In the U.S., this holiday, held on the fourth Thursday in November, commemorates the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. A similar holiday is held in Canada, on the second Monday in October. In the Netherlands they have a “Dank Dag” or “Thank Day.” It usually takes place on a Sunday, sometime in the fall, when a number of churches dedicate a service to giving thanks for not only the harvest, but all of God’s many blessings. The actual word “thanksgiving” is defined as an expression of gratitude, especially to God. I like that definition. Thanksgiving to me means remembering to be thankful for things on a daily basis. Only people can offer thanks to God for life and every other blessing. Other animals can walk upright, some even seem to have the capacity for communicating. But, so far as we know, humans alone have the capacity to realize that we enter the world with nothing and leave with nothing. Everything in between is a gift—and worthy of offering thanks for to the One who provides all things. This is one of the many reasons I love the Thanksgiving holiday. I especially look forward to reflecting on the past year and offering thanks to God for his many, many blessings. It’s our highest privilege as people. What are you grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day? Quote of the day:
“Generosity is the perfect flower of love. It does not think who it is that needs—but gives and serves the unworthiest.” – J.R. Miller Reflection: Generosity is a large word. It has a root which means excellence, goodness. It is a noble word. Its first definition in the dictionary is "nobility; the order of nobles." The word generous was applied only to the good, the brave, the noble. There is a Prussian order of distinction, founded in 1665 that bears the name The Order of Generosity. The brightest deeds that shine in the story of humanity are the deeds of generosity. Generosity does not merely return good for good; does not merely measure its giving by what it has received. It blesses the hand that has smitten it, it repays cruelty with gentleness and it serves unselfishly those who have done the sorest wrong. Let’s cultivate the spirit of generosity. Think of how we enjoy God's goodness, and likewise think of those who lack the blessings we enjoy. Why not send love to the less fortunate—for in so doing we enlarge our own hearts, and fulfill the ministry of love we have been sent here to perform. This will draw us closer to those who need us, and enable to be a blessing to them. For we never can truly reach others by seeking to have them first love us; the best good we can do for them, is show them love. This is a lesson we can never learn well enough, nor fix too deeply in our hearts. We sometimes forget that nothing is given to us for ourselves alone. When an abundance of blessing or prosperity comes to us in any form, we must not keep it to ourselves and use it only for ourselves. The good we have received, we are to bestow on others who are in need. This is our duty. So when blessings come your way, think of others who have no such blessing or favor as you are enjoying–then show them generosity and share your love, and in so doing your nobility will grow. Quote of the day:
“If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Reflection: There is a children’s story that illustrates this quote quite well. The story is about a locomotive that did not want to stay on the tracks. It wanted to wander into the towns that it passed and into the beautiful fields it saw along the way. One day the locomotive decided to leave the tracks, and he did! But when he wandered into town, he created great discomfort among the people. The smoke that belched from the engine dirtied the clothes of the people of the town. The locomotive caused traffic jams and its enormous weight cracked the streets on which it rode. When the locomotive went into the fields, to enjoy the flowers that he saw there, he immediately got bogged down. Farmers had to come with tractors and pull him out. Everywhere the locomotive went he caused trouble, and the more trouble he caused, the more miserable he became. Finally, the townspeople got him back on the track he was created to ride. It was then he discovered that he really could not be happy unless he was on track, following the route intended for him. This simple story suggests that we each have a path [track] to follow in life. When we wander off our path, we cause chaos and sadness for ourselves, as well as for others. We often are tempted to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but this is not so. We are all made with certain gifts and talents—and—to fulfill a certain purpose in life. Happiness and contentment come when we stick to our purpose in life and fulfill it with all our hearts. Quote of the day:
"Have you a kindness shown? Pass it on. It was not given for thee alone. Pass it on. Let it travel through the years, let it wipe another’s tears, till in Heaven the deed appears. Pass it on.” –- Henry Burton Reflection: I just love the following story and even though it’s a bit longer than usual I think it will be worth your time reading and may even inspire you to do the same as it did me. I was in New York the other day and rode with a friend in a taxi. When we got out, my friend said to the driver, "Thank you for the ride. You did a superb job of driving." The taxi driver was stunned for a second. Then he said, "Are you a wise guy or something?" "No, my dear man, and I'm not putting you on. I admire the way you keep cool in heavy traffic." "Yeah," the driver said and drove off. "What was that all about?" I asked. "I am trying to bring love back to New York," he said. "I believe it's the only thing that can save the city." "How can one man save New York?" "It's not one man. I believe I have made that taxi driver's day. Suppose he has twenty fares. He's going to be nice to those twenty fares because someone was nice to him. Those fares in turn will be kinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or even their own families. Eventually the goodwill could spread to at least one thousand people. Now that isn't bad, is it?" "But you're depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill to others." "I'm not depending on it," my friend said. "I'm aware that the system isn't foolproof so I might deal with ten different people today. If out of ten I can make three happy, then eventually I can indirectly influence the attitudes of three thousand more." "It sounds good on paper," I admitted, "but I'm not sure it works in practice." "Nothing is lost if it doesn't. It didn't take any of my time to tell that man he was doing a good job. He neither received a larger tip nor a smaller tip. If it fell on deaf ears, so what? Tomorrow there will be another taxi driver I can try to make happy." "But you can't do this all alone!" I protested. "You're just one man." "The most important thing is not to get discouraged. Making people in the city become kind again is not an easy job, but if I can enlist other people in my campaign..." "You just winked at a very plain-looking woman," I said. "Yes, I know," he replied. "And if she's a schoolteacher, her class will be in for a fantastic day." Why not try some random acts of kindness yourself and make your part of the world a little kinder? Quote of the day:
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” — Dale Carnegie Consider: Some of the most popular products we use today were accidents stumbled on by clumsy scientists, chefs who spilled things, and misguided inventors. We can all take comfort in knowing even some huge mistakes can come with silver linings, sometimes big enough to change entire industries. Industrial equipment stabilizer was the intended use of the springs naval engineer Richard James was developing in 1943. The sensitive springs were meant to keep fragile equipment steady on ships. Then James knocked one of his new springs from a shelf and, like a kid on Christmas morning, watched it do that famous Slinky walk down instead of just hitting the ground. He took the creation home to show his wife, Betty, who saw the potential for a new toy. After consulting the dictionary, a name sprung to mind: Slinky, a Swedish term meaning "sleek and sinuous." By time the toy was demonstrated in front of Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia, during the 1945 Christmas season, it was clear it would be a best toy seller. James turned his seeming failure into success. What failure do you need to take a closer look at and see if you might be missing out on success? Quote of the day:
“We cannot hold a torch to light another person's path without brightening our own.” — Ben Sweetland Consider: In many countries the Festival of Lights is being celebrated. From what I understand it is a celebration of light over darkness—good over evil. It can be discouraging thinking about the negative environment that exists in the world today. An environment filled with greed, violence, and a pervading feeling of hopelessness. How can we bring light into a world that all too often seems so dark and hopeless? How can we be enough of a positive influence in the lives of others that they would not just survive, but instead willingly work to change the world around them? Perhaps the following story will help give you insight on how to combat the darkness. Around the turn of the century in England, a lamplighter would go up and down the streets lighting the streetlamps. He carried a long pole that had a small candle on top with which he would reach up to light the kerosene-fed lamps. From a distance you could not see a lamplighter very well, the light from one small candle was not very bright in the surrounding darkness of night. You could follow the progress of the lamplighter as he went along a street. The presence of his candle was barely visible until it joined with the flame of the streetlamp being newly lit. A radiant glow erased a portion of the night's darkness, and looking back down the street, you could see that the light from the glowing streetlamps made the entire street bright as day. The darkness was held at bay. We all can be like the lamplighter by sharing from our own flame in order to light other’s individual lamps. By sharing our wisdom and demonstrating our love, we can provide the fuel necessary to nourish and sustain other’s flames. Together we can become bright enough to conquer the darkness and hopelessness of the world. Quote of the day:
"For it is in giving that we receive.” — Francis of Assisi Reflection: Here is a cute story that illustrates this quote. A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. "I will show you hell," said the Lord, and they went into a room that had a large pot of stew in the middle. The smell was delicious, but around the pot sat desperate people who were starving. All were holding spoons with very long handles that reached into the pot, but because the handle of the spoon was longer than their arm, it was impossible to get the stew into their mouths. Their suffering was terrible."Now I will show you heaven," said the Lord, and they went into another room identical to the first one. There was a similar pot of delicious stew, and the people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well-nourished, talking and happy. At first the man did not understand. "It is simple," said the Lord. "You see, they have learned to feed each other." We could all have heaven on earth if we would think of others and learn to feed and care for each other. Saint Francis knew the secret; it is in giving that we receive. Quote of the day:
"The measure of mental health is the disposition to find good everywhere.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Consider: David H. Fink, a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration and author of “Release from Nervous Tension” made a study on the stressed and mentally unbalanced. He studied two groups, the first group was made up of thousands of people who were suffering from mental and emotional disturbances; the second group contained only those who were free from such tensions. Gradually one fact began to stand out: those who suffered from extreme tension had one trait in common-they were habitual faultfinders, constant critics of people and things around them. Whereas the men and women who were free of all tensions were the least fault finding. It would seem that the habit of criticizing is a prelude or mark of the nervous, and of the mentally unbalanced. Take a moment to determine how critical and fault finding you are and take measures to correct that before your stress and tension becomes unmanageable. |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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