Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 15 – No. 4213 October 19, 2013
Thought for the week: "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." – John Adams
"It is not genius, nor glory, nor love that reflects the greatness of the human soul; it is kindness." – Henri-Dominique Lacordaire
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes." – Jawaharlal Nehru
"Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them." – John Henry Cardinal Newman
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." – Sally Berger
"The problem with the rat race it that even if you win you're still a rat." – Lily Tomlin
"Experimenting with drugs is like target practice where your head is the bull's-eye." – Michael Josephson
According to a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a parent's behavior can have future repercussions on their child's marriage. A child who grows up in a home where one or both parents are "jealous, moody, volatile, critical or prone to dominate their spouse" is likely to have a less healthy, less successful marriage than is a child whose parents divorce.
"In Brief" by Lisa McLaughlin, Time magazine, Dec. 10, 2001.
The story is told of a father who took his two boys one afternoon to play miniature golf.
The father walked up to the man at the ticket counter and said, "How much is it to get in?" The young man replied, "Three dollars for you and three dollars for any kid who is older than six. We let them in for free if they are six or younger. How old are your two?" The father replied, "This one is three and the other one is seven, so I owe you $6.00." The young man at the ticket counter said, "Hey mister, did you just win the lottery or something? You could have saved yourself three bucks if you would have told me that the older one was six. I wouldn't have known the difference."
The father replied, "Yes, that may be true, but the boys would have known the difference."
A few years ago a fellow named Bob urged me to remind people of the power of kindness. He had just lost his wife of 42 years and was for a long time in a state of grief, despair and disbelief, but he was often pulled out of the blackness of woe by the kindness of strangers.
One day he was trying to make copies of the condolence notes he received and he broke down. As he was sobbing quietly by the copying machine, a young woman just put her arms around him and hugged him, until he regained control. Weeks later he had a similar emotional breakdown at a restaurant and the waitress sat beside him and held his hand. As long as there are people like that in the world, Bob concluded, there is still hope.
The great musician Pablo Casals said, "Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he acts on it and listens to it, he is giving a great deal of what the world needs most. It is not complicated, but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act upon it."
The poet William Wordsworth put it another way, declaring that the best portions of a good person's life are the "little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love." And the novelist Henry James said, "Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."
Think how much better the world would be, and how much more gratifying your own life would be, if every day each of us set out to lighten the life or brighten the day of another with simple kindness?
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."1
I love the title of the country/western song, "What part of no don't you understand?"
Have you ever noticed that some of us have a difficult time saying no to people? We think we always have to be "nice" to be a good Christian, and give in to others' demands or even to their requests.
As popular author, Rick Warren, asked: "Isn't a Christian supposed to be meek?"
And then, answering his own question, he said, "Yes, you are supposed to be meek. But meekness is not weakness. There's a big difference. Meekness literally means 'strength under control.' Picture a wild stallion that has been broken and is now tamed. That stallion still has as much power as when he was wild, but now that power is bottled up for the master's use.
"Only two people in the Bible were called meek—Jesus and Moses. Neither of them were weaklings or wimps. They were strong men of conviction. God doesn't expect you to just cave in every time somebody wants to manipulate you or control you. What would you do if someone asked you to do something immoral or illegal or unreasonable? You'd say no!"2
When someone tries to make us feel guilty if we say no to something they want us to do, a simple response like the following can be very effective: "You're not trying to make me feel guilty are you?" Of course they will deny it, but as long as we don't let them control or manipulate us through guilt (false guilt), in time they will stop trying to put a guilt trip on us. And by the way, people only make us feel guilty with our permission.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to learn to be genuinely meek and say 'yes' when I need to say yes, and 'no' when I need to say no—and not feel guilty about it. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."
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