Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 2210 May 29, 2010
Thought for the week: "Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education." – Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." – Dwight Eisenhower
"A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart." – Unknown
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." – Edward Everett Hale
"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." – Laura Ingalls Wilder
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." – Eleanor Roosevelt
"Nearly all men can stand adversity; but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." – Abraham Lincoln
"Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light." – Albert Schweitzer
On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson asked my son a question. "Dad, I know that babies come from mommies' tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?" he asked innocently. After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust, "You don't have to make something up, Dad. It's OK if you don't know the answer."
Studies show that entire families who begin the day with hot food, encouraging words, and affection, do their respective tasks more efficiently during the time they are apart.
The unfortunate ones who leave each other after a quarrel do not fare as well. Unhappy or stressed students make poorer grades in school and do not get along with others as well as children who leave home with a positive attitude. It is the responsibility of parents to instill in their children positive attitudes, as well as a depth of love and forgiveness that makes for peace in families. This is best done by example. Be before them what you want them to become.
One ship sails east and another sails west
With the self-same winds that blow.
Tis the set of the sail and not the gale
Which determines the way they go.
As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life,
'Tis the act of the soul that determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
Several years ago the TV show 60 Minutes ran a segment that tells us something important about fatherlessness.
The park rangers at a South African wildlife preserve were concerned about the slaughter of 39 rare white rhinos in their park. It turned out that the rhinos were killed not by poachers but rather by juvenile delinquents—teen elephants.
The story began a decade ago when the park could no longer sustain the increasing population of elephants. They decided to kill many of the adult elephants whose young were old enough to survive without them. And so, the young elephants grew up fatherless.
As time went on, many of these young elephants roamed together in gangs and began to do things elephants normally don't do. They threw sticks and water at rhinos and acted like neighborhood bullies. Without dominant males, the young bulls became sexually active, producing excessive testosterone and exhibiting aggressive behavior. A few young males grew especially violent, knocking down rhinos and stepping or kneeling on them, crushing the life out of them. Mafuto, the gang leader, eventually had to be killed.
The park rangers theorized that these young teen-aged elephants were acting badly because they lacked role models. The solution was to bring in a large male to lead them and to counteract their bully behaviors. Soon the new male established dominance and put the young bulls in their places. The killing stopped. The young males were mentored-and saved.
By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (492.1 12/2006)
Getting Older and Wiser 492.1 (from December 2006) audio I find it hard to believe, but this Sunday I turn 64. In my mind I'm still a young rebel with potential, but my body gives me daily confirmation that those days are long past. And I don't like it one bit.
Yet one of the things I've learned is that nobody likes a whiner, and there's nothing to be gained by lamenting. I've learned a few other things over the years, and I suppose I've become wiser. For example:
I've learned that kindness is more important than cleverness, that it's really dumb to carry a grudge (and really hard to give one up), and that until I translate my thoughts into actions, my great ideas and good intentions are like unlit candles.
I've learned that cynicism and enthusiasm are both contagious, but cynicism makes things worse.
I've learned that everyone rationalizes -- including me -- and that it's easier to give advice than to take it.
I've learned that where there's a will, there's a way and where there's not, there's an alibi.
I've learned that too many people are willing to move the stool when what's really needed is to move the piano, and that the things I like to do least are often the things that need to be done most.
I've learned that necessity is not a fact, it's an interpretation, and that too many people confuse the intensity of their feelings with the likelihood that they're right.
I've learned that there's often a gap between the way things are and the way they ought to be, and that I can still be an idealist without illusions committed to closing that gap.
And finally, I've learned that a person is generally as happy as he or she is willing to be, and I'm very willing to be happy.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Jesus and his disciples ... came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried [troubled] and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better [relationships], and it will not be taken away from her.'"1
I read about a very successful youth leader, or so he and many others believed, who built a tremendous youth ministry—the largest in the country. But he was always busy, busy, busy.
In fact, he was so busy with his work "for God" that he neglected the most important things in his life. Late one November his wife caught him as he was racing out the door to go to preach to somebody else's kids. She asked, "Do you know, or do you even care that from the middle of September until today, you have not been home one night?"
She had a breakdown soon after. He contemplated suicide. He later confessed, "I was a man who existed in a shell."
Like many of us, Jim's shell of busyness was his external protection—not from the outside world—but from his inner world of unresolved anxiety. Jim's problem was that he was a busy-aholic. That may have been Martha's problem too. Perhaps?
As long as we keep on the run to avoid facing our inner anxieties, our busyness can get us addicted to our own adrenaline, which becomes nothing less than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the feelings of an empty or troubled life. In so doing, we end up hiding from our own reality—a self-destructive path to follow.
To overcome, the first step is to admit the truth of what we are doing; that is, admit our addiction no matter how refined it appears to be. The second step is to get into a recovery/support group to help stop the addictive/avoidance behavior so we can feel the pain we are seeking to avoid. And third, where necessary we need to seek wise or professional counseling as well as God's help to resolve and overcome the cause or causes behind our avoidance behavior.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, I confess that I'm a Martha to the core. Please help me to let go of the addictive over-control of my life, find the help I need to overcome, and help me to develop the relational 'Mary' in me. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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