Compassion

Words of Wisdom today are brought to you by: Arthur H. Stainback “The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands.”

Today, make sure that each person that you come in contact with knows that they are cared about or that that there is understanding.

This is tough, but if we can begin to truly have each person understood and cared for, wow.

One of the aspects that I enjoy doing in the morning is picking topics and reading quotes on the topics. Here is one of them from today:

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Now, there were many who did not like Ralph and here was one of the main reasons:

Critics believed that Emerson was removing the central God figure

The reason they believe that was because of the following reason:

He believed that all things are connected to God and, therefore, all things are divine.

There are probably many things that I would disagree with him on, but the more I read about him and his life journey, the more intrigued I become. With knowing more of his history and life, the more the quote that I mentioned makes sense.

We need to have courage. We need to know where we are at and where we want to go and map out the journey and follow it. There may be many who will try to derail it but we must stay focused and we must have the courage to keep taking the steps necessary.

Decisions ...

Theodore Hesburgh once said, "My basic principle is that you don't make decisions because they are easy; you don't make them because they are cheap; you don't make them because they're popular; you make them because they're right.”

Many times in life, we have to make decisions and sometimes those decisions are very difficult. Many times, individuals may disagree with you and they definitely will not understand why you made that decision. However, you must stand firm because you know that the decision that you are making is the right one and you are not going to allow other factors override your decision; especially when you are making the decision through the lens of vission, mission and values.

Work & Play

The work/play aspect of life has always interest me. I came across the following quote from James Michener.

James A. Michener

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.

At times, in my life, I think that this has been true for me. Lately, it has not been the case and I need to get back to the "spot".

Silence & Speech

I am pondering this quote this morning as I am listening to music and working on some vacation bible school material:

The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. One does not exist without the other. Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech

This is powerful and challenging for me. I am going to have to mull on this for awhile.

Quotes on Change

William Pollard

"Change" has been an internal battle that has been going on for the last few weeks. Recently, I came across a few from William Polard. Here are a few to think about and to chew on .....

No Change

Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.


After Deciding to Change

It is not always what we know or analysed before we make a decision that makes it a great decision. It is what we do after we make the decision to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision.

Going Back to the Drawing Board

Too often new ideas are studied and analyzed until they are suffocated.”

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Thus, to have a shot at solving a "crisis", we must be innovative and that involves change. At some point and some point soon, we must make a decision and then we must execute that decision.

The Problem with Christianity

"The problem with Christianity is we made it into a religion about Jesus rather than a commitment to be like him"

In my readings, I came across this statement and it is one that has been bouncing around inside my head. I think that the reason that it rings true is with some fundamentalist christianity reading that I have been doing lately. I think that we have misplaced the purpose of the message that Jesus came and delivered.

It is followed up by this quote:

Wether the people lived the way of Jesus became irrelevant to some and seconday to many. Salvation became a status, easy to achieve and verify. This understanding persists.

Too many times, I hear the message of salvation is boiled down to fire insurance. To me, that is sound. Individuals want to break salvation down to making the right steps and saying the right words. That was not the point of Jesus.

Stones Lying in the Water

On the Beatitudes, "they contain a message that would change the world. What a pity that Christians have been listening to the message for two thousand years, but they (the Christians) are like stones lying in the water for centuries, never soaking up a single drop." Gandhi

Quote to Ponder

Lord, take me where You want me to go;
Let me meet who you want me to meet;
Tell me what You want me to say, and
Keep me out of Your way

As doing some prep work for class on Sunday, I came across this quote. It is from Mychal Judge. I think that the quote is very important aspect that we will talk about in class but I also wanted to place it here on my blog.

Through the different conversations that I have been having and blogs that I have come across recently; this quote seems to fit into so many of the conversation. It is a quote that I am lifting up to God as a prayer.