Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 16 – No. 2214 May 31, 2014
Thought for the week: "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." – Anne Frank
"Your abilities don't define who you are, your choices do." – Unknown
"Character is much easier kept than recovered." – Thomas Paine
"What we must decide is how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are." – Edgar Friedenberg
"The true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration." – Alexander Hamilton
"Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks." – Warren Buffett
"Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used." – Richard Byrd
Dewey was returning home from a business trip, bags in hand, and slowly making his way to his vehicle in the crowded airport garage. Suddenly a large dark car screeched to a stop in front of Dewey, and the driver pointed menacingly at him. "Get in," the driver ordered. "I'll take you to your car."
Startled, Dewey took a step backward. "Ah ... no thanks," he answered. "I can get there myself."
"No!" the man called back as he threw open his passenger side door: "Get In!"
Dewey's eyes now darted around the garage, hoping to find a security guard.
Just then, the driver's face softened. "Please," he said, "I've been driving up and down for an hour. I can't find a space to park and I want yours."
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was:
1. A four-year-old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry.'
I've mentioned before that, despite my great admiration for people who are instinctively and consistently kind, kindness does not come naturally to me. Yet the older I get, the more I agree with Abraham Heschel, who said, "When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people." Henry James was more emphatic when he 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."
In 1994, Dr. Chuck Wall, a professor of human relations and management at Bakersfield College in California, came up with a concept that turned into an influential movement. Weary of hearing about "senseless acts of violence," he began to teach and talk about "random and senseless acts of kindness." The idea was simple: the best response to a world coarsened by selfishness and cruelty was individual acts of kindness.
In 1999, Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a novel called Pay It Forward (later adapted into a movie) that builds on Dr. Wall's initial inspiration. It starts with a teacher's assignment: "Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action." Trevor, the 12-year-old hero, comes up with an idea. If he does something "real good" for three people and asks in return that instead of them "paying him back," they "pay it forward" by doing a good deed for three other people, who are in turn asked to pay it forward, the math quickly shows that he could change the world.
Whether acts of kindness are random or spontaneous as advocated by Dr. Wall or premeditated as proposed by Ms. Hyde, acts of kindness are certainly not senseless. To the contrary, they're the best possible proof of good sense. Every single person can send forth ripples of kindness and compassion simply by being nice.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."1
"True love is like quick-silver," said Ann Landers, "if you hold it in the palm of your hand, it will remain. If you try to grasp it, it will slip through your fingers." Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Whoever will save his life will lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
In other words, when we cling to life to live only for ourselves or cling to another person out of our over-dependent need, we lose what we need the most: Love. This is because we have mistaken need for love. Only as we let go of unhealthy need, are we free to love.
In other words, do I love you because I need you, or do I need you because I love you? The first is unhealthy and immature; the second is healthy and mature.
Only as we learn to love without strings attached do we find genuine love and the fullness of life.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me to resolve all of my unresolved issues so I don't cling to others or do things out of unhealthy immature need, so I am free to let go and learn to fully live and fully love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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