How Short Life Is

How short is life, and how full of trouble! 

Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. 

Like the shadow of a passing cloud we quickly disappear. 

(The One Year Book Of Bible Readings, 25 April) 

30 June 2013

Creativity

Creativity is not just about making fascinating inventions or great works of art. It has to do with shaping your life and cultivating your very soul. (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 199) 29 June 2013

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

Believe you can, and you can. Belief is one of the most powerful of all problem dissolvers. When you believe that a difficulty can be overcome, you are more than halfway to victory over it already. (Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, American Writer and Minister, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering) 28 June 2013

Molding

We may guide or inspire by our example, but we cannot cast another person, however close to us, into the mold that we choose. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 15 June) 27 June 2013

Coming Or Going

You can tell a lot about which direction your life is heading by looking at the people with whom you've chosen to spend your time and share your ideas. Their values and priorities impact the way you think and act. (John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 11 April)

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I've been working on a genealogy project. I'm using the project to help me learn more about how to use version five of my genealogy program, RootsMagic, which is installed on my laptop computer. I rekeyed most of the information in the 1959 genealogy document, The Amos Tree, of Roy Lee and Norma (Latham) Henthorn into the program. Then I added information from the PAF 2.31 version of my William Henthorn file. I prepared and posted to the Internet a Register report for Robert Henthorn, the father of Amos Henthorn. I'm pleased with the payback from the project.

26 June 2013

Waiting

Often, in a crisis, it is better to wait patiently for a problem to work itself out through a natural, inevitable process, than to constantly input our own, perhaps misguided control into it. (after One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 13 June) 25 June 2013

Time

Time is swiftly flying by, and pages are blowing off the calendar like leaves in the wind.
(David Jeremiah, Journey, 9 June) 24 June 2013

One Day At A Time

You can go after what you want for yourself by deciding to work, one day at a time, or adopting a philosophy of life that is going to bring you the greatest amount of fulfillment and happiness regardless of your circumstances or the problems that you've encountered until today. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky's The Limit, p. 40) 23 June 2013

Problems

Problems arise when your comfortable life is markedly different from the life you desire.
(Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., I'd Change My Life If I Had More Time, p. 93)
22 June 2013

Mistakes

Someone who keeps repeating the same mistakes hasn't taken his past experience to heart.
(Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 162)
21 June 2013

Take Ownership

Rather than change ourselves, we want to change the world and other people. (For The Love Of God, p. 46)

What we think about ourselves is clearly and unequivocally reflected in everything we say or do - in our work, our surroundings, our family life, and our service to others. (Laurie Beth Jones, The Path, p. 27)

But some people are deeply in denial and defensiveness, and they don't respond favorably to situations designed to work with the truth. (Cloud and Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 187)

Progress begins when we stop trying to control the uncontrollable, and when we go on to correct what we have the right to change. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 26 March)

We would all do well to take ownership of our faults, work through the things that cause us to distort our view of people and situations, deal with our fears and problems, and seek healing. (Cloud and Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 188)

Perfection is a long way off, but improvement can be made to happen every day. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 18 June)

20 June 2013

The Trouble With Money

The trouble is that too many people are spending money they don't have for things they don't need to impress people they don't like. (Anonymous in Journey by David Jeremiah, 16 June) 19 June 2013

You Can't Do That

In an insecure world, 

everyone wants to tell everyone else 

how to think and live.

(Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 192)

18 June 2013

Goals

Goals should be:

• Written
• Personal
• Specific
• Achievable
• Measurable
• Time-Sensitive

(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 25 May)
17 June 2013

Happy Father's Day

Our cactus blooming in May 2013

... appreciating the beauty in everyday things, noticing the sacredness of everyday life, is something we need to cultivate in our lives. It requires some willingness, and a good deal of practice. (Sue Bender in The Power of Small Things in For The Love Of God by Shield and Carlson, p. 121) 16 June 2013

Share And Share Alike

We need a sense of when things are not being done even-evenhandedly, when some people get too much and others get too little. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 155) 15 June 2013

Flag Day - 14 June 2013

Even under the most crushing state machinery, 

courage rises up again and again, 

for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.

(Aung San Suu Kyi, p. 1945, Burma, in Pocket Positives, no page numbering)

14 June 2013

Just One More Thing

Peter Falk as Colombo

Do one more thing at the end of the day and at the end of the year you'll have done 365 more things.
(Richard Pratt, Australian Packaging Millionaire in Pocket Positives, no page numbering)
13 June 2013

Moralists

[Moralists] ... think they know what is right and wrong, tell others how to live, and see themselves as models of virtuous living. ...

Literalists, ... anxiously take their every thought and belief as pure fact.
(Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul, p. 100)
12 June 2013

I Think I Can

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it is impossible for anyone to accomplish. But whatever is possible for another, believe that you, too, are capable of it. (Marcus Aurelius in One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 24 April) 11 June 2013

Dizziness

We are not only dizzied by real, but unimportant facts, we are overstimulated by illusions of reality. Images created by the media out of what is not even going on. Our minds, already boggled by reality, are clobbered by unreality, moments created to look like events. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 128-9) 10 June 2013

Trouble

Don't waste today's time cluttering up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles!
(Barbara Johnson in Promises Of Joy, p. 128)
9 June 2013

That's My Issue

A person who will not recognize or own an issue 

is not able to 

address and resolve it.

(Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 164)

8 June 2013

Every Word, Every Thought

Would you change the way you live 

if you knew that every word and thought 

would be examined by God 

[or the government]...?  

(The One Year Book of Bible Readings, 6 April) 7 

June 2013

D-Day Remembered

D-Day - 6 June 1944

Omaha Beach Cemetery

Reflecting on the generations who have gone before gives us continued inspiration and motivation.

(after Upper Room Disciplines - 2008, 5 November)

6 June 2013

Banking On Good Will

All leaders have a certain amount of good will in their bank account when they start work at a new job. From then on, they either build up their account or pay it out. Bad decisions and poor people skills cost them until they run out of credit and credibility. It doesn't matter whether the blunders are big or small, when you're account is empty, you are out as a leader. (after John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 5 June) 5 June 2013

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams in his diary, near the end of his career.

"My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations, and in ceaseless rejected prayers that something beneficial to my own species should be the result of my existence."

(Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 68)

4 June 2013

It's Your Story To Write

Having a story to write is why we were born. Without a real story, we are hardly a person at all. We have to own our story, take responsibility for it, and claim it all as ours - the bad chapters and the good - in the sure knowledge that God will forgive us the bad ones and set us free to write better ones in the time we have. (Lewis B. Smedes, A Pretty Good Person, p. 71) 3 June 2013

Are You In The Race?

If you race around in the world, you won't have any quiet time. 

(Sheild & Carlson, The Love Of God, p. 67)

2 June 2013

Preparation

One thing that reduces the chances of a good outcome is 

a lack of preparation ...

(Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries Face To Face, p. 120)

1 June 2013