Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 14 – No. 4712 November 24, 2012
Thought for the week: "A great deal of what we see depends on what we are looking for." – Unknown
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.
He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head. He then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.
An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.
Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: "I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap."
The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a home with a non-stopping-chatting wife, six children, two under the age of three—he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"
As recently as in 1983, President Ronald Reagan summarized this traditional belief of America's leaders: "The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said, 'If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.' Explaining the inalienable rights of men, Jefferson said, 'The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.' And it was George Washington who said that 'of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.'"
4. Desiderata
In 1927, Max Ehrmann gave us timeless advice in a poem called "Desiderata" (Latin for "things desired"):
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
The purpose of life is not to be happy.
It is to be useful,
to be honorable,
to be compassionate,
to have it make some difference
that you have lived and lived well.
The best way to teach our children to succeed is to teach them to fail [successfully].
After all, if getting everything you want on the first try is success, and everything else is failure, we all fail much more often than we succeed.
People who learn how to grow from unsuccessful efforts succeed more often and at higher levels because they become wiser and tougher.
Two great American inventors, Thomas Edison and Charles Kettering mastered the art of building success on a foundation of what others might call failure.
Edison liked to say he "failed his way to success," noting that every time he tried something that didn't work, he moved closer to what did. "Now I know one more thing that doesn't work," he would say. The lesser known Kettering (head of research for General Motors from 1920-1947) talked about "failing forward," calling every wrong attempt a "practice shot."
The strength of both men was that their creativity and confidence was undiminished by setbacks and unsuccessful efforts. They accepted that trial and error is an essential strategy for breakthrough innovation and simply rejected the notion of failure. Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, cautioned his leaders from being so careful that they never failed. He went so far as to say, "The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."
Of course, failure is never desirable, but it is inevitable and, with a proper attitude, can be quite useful. The only way to avoid failure is to avoid the risks and challenges and that probably is a case of real failure. The great hockey player Wayne Gretzky used to say, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Whatever your goal, whether it's to get something, do something, or improve yourself as a person or professional, the secret of success is learning to transform unsuccessful experiences from stumbling blocks to stepping stones.
Three qualities can turn adversity into advantage: a positive perspective, reflection, and perseverance.
First, learn from the inventors. Don't allow yourself to think of any failure as final, and never allow unsuccessful efforts to discourage you or cause you to give up. Remember, failure is an event, not a person. Even failing repeatedly can't defeat you unless you start thinking of yourself as a failure. The way you think about your experiences shapes the experience in ways that either stimulate or stymie further efforts.
Second, don't waste the experience. Unsuccessful efforts are wasted and debilitating only if you don't learn from them. Reflect on your actions, attitudes and the results to discover the lesson within the experience and use that knowledge to guide future efforts.
Third, persevere. Try and try again. Just be smarter each time.
And finally, learn to enjoy the process. Simply being absorbed in the pursuit of any change that will improve your life or the lives of others is a blessing.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"And Pharaoh hardened his heart ... and Pharaoh hardened his heart ... and Pharaoh hardened his heart ... and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart."1
Most readers will be familiar with Moses confronting Pharaoh when he was attempting to lead the ancient Israeli slaves out of bondage in Egypt. Pharaoh kept opposing, opposing, and opposing the will of God. In the process he kept hardening his heart until after repeated opportunities he still refused to do what was right, and God gave up on him.
So who really hardened Pharaoh's heart, God or Pharaoh himself?
And what's this got to do with cognitive dissonance? Everything. Cognitive dissonance is a fancy term for mental disharmony or a lack of peace of mind. For example, if we consistently fail to do what we know is right, and/or keep doing what we know is wrong, we will lose peace of mind and experience cognitive dissonance. Because we can't stand living this way, instead of correcting our behavior, we repress and deny our feelings, rationalize our behavior, justify our actions, start believing our own lies—and end up with a hardened heart and dead conscience—a dangerous course to follow. Ultimately we self-destruct.
All of God's laws are universal. Take his moral law for example. We can no more break it than we can break the law of gravity. Try to break either one of these and we end up breaking ourselves against them. How foolish to think we can break God's laws and not suffer the natural consequences. All we do is harden our heart and deaden our conscience. And unless we repent of our sinful ways and turn back to God, we end up in a lost eternity forever. God's ways are for our protection and eternal salvation. We neglect them at our own peril.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me always to listen to and heed the warnings you have built into my mind when I am tempted to stray from the truth and what is right ... so that I will never deaden my conscience and end up with a hardened heart. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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