Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 17 – No. 3915 September 26, 2015
Thought for the week: "Should you shield the canyons from the wind storms, you would not see the beauty of their carvings." – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
A Sunday School teacher challenged her children to take some time on Sunday afternoon to write a letter to God. They were to bring their letter back the following Sunday.
One little boy wrote, "Dear God, We had a good time at church today. Wish you could have been there."
It is reported that this poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York hospital, and sent by Dr. Dennis Shields, Professor, Bronx, New York.
Slow Dance
Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round,
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight,
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast,
Time is short,
The music won't last.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask, "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done,
Do you lie in your bed,
With the next hundred chores,
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down,
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short,
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die,
'Cause you never had time,
To call and say, "Hi"
You'd better slow down,
Don't dance so fast,
Time is short,
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift –
Thrown away.
Life is not a race
Do take it slower,
Hear the music,
Before the song is over.
One morning while Alfred Nobel was reading the paper, he was shocked to discover his own obituary.
Someone at the newspaper had obviously made a great error and falsely reported that he had died. You might say that Nobel was given a luxury that few people will ever receive: a chance to see what's said about him after his death.
The obituary primarily remembered him as the man who had invented dynamite, which had been used as a weapon of warfare, killing thousands. It turned his blood to ice to think that above all his other accomplishments in life, he would be remembered as the man who gave the world its most destructive weapon. Then and there, he determined that he would make some changes in his life. Nobel made a personal vow: "From this day forward, I will dedicate my life to the pursuit of peace." Creator of the Nobel Peace Prize, today when we hear of Alfred Nobel, we no longer think of dynamite, but of peace.
THOUGHT: As you examine your spiritual life, how would you describe it? Would you describe yourself as strong? Weak? About to give up? Before you become discouraged and fall out of the race entirely, give it one more shot. Put everything you have into it. Give it your all, or one day you may wake up and realize that you wasted and squandered the resources and potential God placed within you.
Chances are, your child will get dumped by a friend at some point. Some suggestions from Parenting magazine:
Be sympathetic. Don't minimize or dismiss what she's feeling. Let her know you're there to listen, and share a story from your past.
Don't bad-mouth the other kid. It's tempting, but try to stay above the fray and let the kids work it out.
Go over what happened. Sometimes kids don't realize that they may have played a role in the demise of a friendship. Ask if they had a fight or if the friend seemed angry recently.
Talk up friendship. A true friend doesn't just abandon someone for the sake of being thought of as "cooler." Remind your child of this.
–Source: Charlotte Observer. Cited on ArcaMax.com.
While I was on a radio call-in show talking about cheating, a listener I'll call Stan mocked my concern. He cheated to get into college, he said. He cheated in college to get a job. And now he occasionally cheats on his job to get ahead. In fact, he concluded, cheating is such an important life skill that parents ought to teach their kids how to cheat.
Evidence is mounting that lots of people share Stan's amoral pragmatism. Because they define success and happiness in terms of getting what they want when they want it, ethics seems irrational. After all, in a world where cheaters so often prosper, why should anyone give up the benefits of dishonesty?
Well, for one thing, the Stans of the world have no idea the price they're paying for the little they're getting. A life without principles is demeaning and self-defeating. The Stans of the world are cheated as often as they cheat others. What's more, they cheat themselves. As they scrape and struggle to fill their lives, they give up their chance to lead fulfilling lives.
The happiest people I know are those who find purpose and meaning pursuing a grander vision of a good life measured in terms of worthiness, not net worth. Virtue is not a tactic; it's a life philosophy.
We paint the self-portrait that we call our character by our values and actions. We can choose to paint that portrait in the pale watercolors of shallow successes and short-lived pleasures or in the deep, rich oils of honor, spirituality, peace of mind, and self-respect.
The enduring impact of our choices is not what we get, but what we become.
"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will."1
At lunchtime today I was telling my wife that if I always waited for inspiration to motivate me to write, I wouldn't get much written because there are lots of other things I enjoy doing. Not always, but as a general rule, writing for me is only about five percent inspiration. The rest is 25 percent discipline and 70 percent perspiration or hard work. I think every writer, from time to time, struggles with a writer's block.
When I thought about writing a book some years ago, it seemed like a daunting task but a friend suggested that I think of writing just one page at a time. Yes, I thought to myself, I can handle that.
When people ask me if I love writing, I usually answer by saying, "I love having written." I do like to communicate ideas however and writing is one way to do that. Teaching in person is a whole lot more fun, but for me, writing has proven to be more effective, especially today with all the wonderful means of communication available to us.
Life's like that. Obviously not everybody is called to write, but we are all called to do that which we are equipped to do. There's a company where I live that is called Instant Grassification. It's a cute and clever name for making instant lawns. But for achieving something worthwhile in life means having a clearly defined purpose and then discipline, hard work, and determination to hang in for the long haul—and to "keep on sowing our seed." There is no such thing as instant success.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to know what my God-given life purpose is and, with Your help, to keep on keeping on so that when I get to the end of life's journey I will hear Your welcoming words, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.' Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."
1. Ecclesiastes 11:4, 6 (TLB).
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