Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 17 – No. 1315 March 28, 2015
Thought for the week: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." – Mahatma Gandhi
"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." – St. Augustine
"Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you're alive, it isn't." – Richard Bach
"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." – Cherokee Expression
"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." – Michael Jordan
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the staircase." – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hospital regulations require a wheelchair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn't need my help to leave the hospital.
After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator.
On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him.
"I don't know," he said. "She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown."
A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience with a raised glass of water. Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'half empty or half full?' She fooled them all. "How heavy is this glass of water?" she inquired with a smile. Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.
She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
"If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden—holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up tomorrow.
*Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe; a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?
We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.
You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?
You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children."
An easy way to set yourself up for disappointment is to wait for others to tell you what a great job you have done. The truth is, it just doesn't happen as often as we would like. Waiting for the approval of others is a losing game. Be your own judge by acknowledging your achievements. Look at the things you have accomplished. Be honest about what you wish you had done differently. However, don't beat yourself up. Forget it and move on. Remember the "good stuff" that happens daily. That's the foundation on which to build your confidence and self-esteem.
As I watched nearly five dozen eager graduates of the Los Angeles Police Academy throw their hats in the air celebrating their achievement, I knew they were the survivors of a rigorous training, and that their journey wasn't over.
Ahead of them would be a full year of supervised field training, and it's unlikely all of them would make it through their probation.
It's difficult to cut hard-working and hopeful probationers, but if an organization wants to create a culture of excellence, its gatekeepers (those in charge of hiring, training, retention, and promotion) must exercise clear-eyed objectivity and demonstrate unflinching courage by weeding out those who are unwilling or unable to excel.
In policing, as in many other fields, the stakes are simply too high to knowingly accept less. No one wants a surgeon, teacher, or cop with mediocre skills or shaky character.
Yet everywhere we see signs of declining standards. Public and private organizations regularly lower their expectations due to political expediency, misplaced loyalty, forced diversity, or perceived necessity. Adequacy has become the shifting standard defined as "the best we can get."
Two results are inevitable when we lower standards: The quality of service continually sinks as fewer people strive for the best within them, and mediocrity becomes the norm as good people move up and out, leaving behind a growing proportion of so-so performers.
Two results are inevitable when we insist on excellence: Performance increases as everyone does better than they otherwise would, and some people will be asked to leave.
Management can avoid its responsibility, but it can't dodge the consequences of shirking it. Excellence is achievable, but not without sacrifice and discipline.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."1
In his sermon, "The Turning Point," Richard Fairchild tells how, at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924, Bill Havens, a member of the four-man U.S. canoe rowing team, made the very difficult decision to withdraw from the games in order to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. The U.S. team won the gold medal and it turned out that the birth of the baby was so late Bill could have stayed on the team and arrived home in plenty of time for the baby's birth.
However, Bill said he had no regrets because his first commitment was to his wife.
However, there is a fascinating sequel to this story. "The child eventually born to Bill and his wife was a boy whom they named Frank. Twenty-eight years later, in 1952, Bill received a cablegram from Frank. It was sent from Helsinki, Finland, where the 1952 Olympics were being held. The cablegram read: 'Dad, I won. I'm bringing home the gold medal you lost while waiting for me to be born.'
"Frank Havens had just won the gold medal for the United States in the canoe-racing event, a medal his father had dreamed of winning but never did."2
It is true for all of us in that whenever we honor our commitments—no matter what the immediate losses may seem—in the long run it always pays to do the right thing. Always.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to always put first things first, honor all my commitments, and never forget to keep the long-term effects of my actions in mind. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."
1. Ephesians 5:25 (NIV).
2. Richard Fairchild, "The Turning Point," http://tinyurl.com/3735ly
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