Well Said

WELL SAID      

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes “the author who benefit you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance."

Max Lucado sure does that for me.  Following are some miscellaneous Scripture verses followed by his thoughts on them. See if you do not find, as I did, great expression, and grace in them as well.

Matthew 6: 12  Give us the food we need in Christ each day.  Forgive us our, sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

    We've all have made mistakes and will all make some more.  The line that separates the best of us from the worst of us is a narrow one, hence we'd be wise to take seriously Paul's admonition: why do you judge your brothers or sisters in Christ?  And why do you think you are better than they?  We will all stand before the Lord to be judged  (Romans 14:10)

Your sister (brother) would like me to remind you that she (he) needs grace.  Just like you need forgiveness, so does she (he).  There comes a time in every relationship when it's damaging to seek justice, when settling the score only stirs the fire.  There comes a time when the best thing you can do is accept your brother (sister) and offer him the same grace you've been given.

Isaiah 46:4    Even when you are old, I will be the same.  Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you

    Growing old can be dangerous.  The trail is treacherous and the pitfalls are many.  One is wise to be prepared.  You know it's coming.  It's not like God kept the process a secret.  It's not like you are blazing a trail as you grow older.  It's not as if no one has ever done it before.  Look around you.  You have ample opportunity to prepare and ample case studies to consider.  If growing old catches you by surprise, don't blame God.  He gave you plenty of warning.  He also gave you plenty of advice.  Your last chapters can be your best.  Your final song can be your greatest.  It could be that all of your life has prepared you for a grand exit God’s oldest have always been among His choices.

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

Light From Many Lamps

My Dear Friends,

I have edited a truly representative selection of inspiring quotes that have done much to encourage and instruct me. I trust that you too will find something in these quotes to amuse you, to instruct you, and pleasantly while away a few moments of leisure time that you don’t know what else to do with. I suggest that you keep these quotes at the bedside or on a close table, to dip into as needed. Browse them now and then and enjoy in small stimulating portions. I hope you find something keyed to one of your needs.    Al T

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."  
Gandhi

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."
Goethe                                                                       

"If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble."         Bob Hope

"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision."    Helen Keller                                                                                                                                                             

"Joy is not in things! It is in us!"                                                                              Benjamin Franklin

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."                     Mark Twain

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong."                                                                                                     Charles Wadsworth                                                                                                              

"Where all think alike, no one thinks much."                                                              Walter Lippman

"To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."                                             Elbert Hubbard

"You learn something every day if you pay attention."                                                     Ray LeBlond

"We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how."                           Anonymous

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth."                                                          Aristotle
                                                                      
"The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge."                                                                                                                   Elbert Hubbard

"It is the responsibility of every adult to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them." Marian W. Edelman                                          

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."  

George Santayana

"I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma."                                        Eartha Kitt

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."  Abraham Maslow

"You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think."                                                The Talmud

"The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind."                  Albert Einstein

Lord, You are the light of the world, be the light of my soul. Make me eager to hear your voice and to follow your holy words in my daily life. Grant me a great unselfish generosity to give You more of my time and attention. I ask this in the Light and Truth of Your Holy Name.   Amen