“”There is a
great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness.
Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A
successful person has the energy to create something, to
keep control over its development, and to make it available
in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often
fame. Fruits however, come from weakness and vulnerability.
And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in
vulnerability. Community is the fruit born through shared
brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through
touching one another’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that
what brings us true joy is not successfulness but
fruitfulness.”
---Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Dutch Catholic priest and
writer
My true disciples produce much fruit.
---John 15:8
February 2,
2008
“I want more
time to think about fewer things.”
---Tom Brokaw (when asked about why he was retiring)
O God, you are my God…
I lie awake thinking of you, mediating on you through the
night.
---Psalm 63: 1, 6
February 3,
2008
“We should not
judge a man’s merit by his great abilities, but by the use
he makes of them.”
---Francois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), French writer
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing
certain things well.
---Romans 12:6
February 4,
2008
“It doesn’t
help to yell at people about their failings. They already
know, and they only get nervous and afraid to try.”
---J.A. McGill
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must
clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience.
---Colossians 3:12
February 5,
2008
“I attribute my
success to this---I never gave or took any excuse.”
---Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), pioneer of modern
nursing
The lazy person is full of excuses…
---Proverbs 26:13
February 6,
2008
“I call on you
to repent. You can only atone for your sin by tears, by
penitence, by humbling your soul before God. You are a man,
and as you have sinned as a man so you must repent. No
angel, an archangel can forgive you. God alone can forgive
you, and He forgives only those who repent.”
---St. Ambrose, (338-397), Bishop of Milan and doctor of the
church
A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.
---Psalm 51:17
February 7,
2008
“Doing what you
love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”
---Wayne Dyer, Author
Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s
desires.
---Psalm 37:4
February 8,
2008
“Sure you can
have a second chance. Just ask Peter. One minute he felt
lower than a snake’s belly and the next minute he was the
high hog at the trough. Even the angels wanted this
distraught netcaster to know that it wasn’t over. The
message came loud and clear from the celestial Throne Room
through the divine courier. “Be sure and tell Peter that he
gets to bat again.”
---Max Lucado, in No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said… “He has risen!...Go tell his
disciples and Peter.”
---Mark 16: 6, 7
February 9,
2008
“If you
wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it.”
---Earl Wilson (1907-1987), newspaper columnist
Take control of what I say, O Lord, and keep my lips sealed.
---Psalm 141:3
February 10,
2008
“Smile at each
other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at
your children, smile at each other---it doesn’t matter who
it is---and that will help you to grow up greater in love
for each other.”
---Mother Teresa, (1910-1997), Roman Catholic nun, founder
of Sisters of Charity
A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.
---Proverbs 15:30
February 11,
2008
“All our dreams can come true---if we
have the courage to pursue them.”
---Walt Disney (1901-1966), Cartoon Artist and Producer
The hopes of the godly result in happiness.
---Proverbs 10:28
February 12,
2008
“You have to
find something that you love enough to be able to take
risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick
walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If
you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you are
doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.”
---George Lucas, Film Director and Producer
I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that
journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could
then. So I’m asking you to give me the hill country that the
Lord promised me.
---Joshua 14:11-12
February 13,
2008
“Few things
help an individual more than to place responsibility upon
them and to let them know that you trust them.”
---Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), Educator and Writer
I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth.
Therefore, go and make disciples…
---Matthew 28:18
February 14,
2008
“I never knew
how to worship until I knew how to love.”
---Henry Ward Beecher, (1813-1887), American clergyman
We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life
for us.
---I John 3:16
February 15,
2008
“I long, as
does every human being, to be at home wherever I find
myself.”
---Mary Angelou, ( born 1928) American poet
True religion with contentment is great wealth.
---I Timothy 6:6
February 16,
2008
“Faith seeks
understanding. I do not seek to understand that I may
believe, but I believe in order to understand.”
---St. Anselm of Canterbury (c.1033-1109), Archbishop of
Canterbury
Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus
said to him, Because you have seen Me, have you believed?
Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
---John 20:28-30
February 17,
2008
“The cave you
fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
---Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), writer, professor
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early
to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone
already taken away from the tomb. So she ran…
---John 20:1
February 18,
2008
“Our dilemma is
that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we
really want is for things to remain the same but get
better.”
---Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986), American journalist
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the
new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out,
and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into
new wineskins.
---Luke 5:37-38
February 19,
2008
“As the water
shapes itself to the vessel that contains it, so a wise man
adapts himself to circumstances.”
---Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.), Chinese thinker and social
philosopher
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have
become all things to all men, so that I may by all means
save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so
that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
---I Corinthians 9: 22-23
February 20,
2008
“The best
portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless
unremembered acts of kindness and love.”
---William Wordsworth (1770-1850), English poet
Be kind to each other.
---Ephesians 4:32
February 21,
2008
“Solitude is
happiness for one who is content.”
---Udana
My soul waits in silence for God only.
---Psalm 62:1
February 22,
2008
“It is not we
who choose to awaken ourselves, but God Who chooses to
awaken us.”
---Thomas Merton (1915-1968), influential Catholic author
and Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, in New Seeds
of Contemplation
But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by
his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son
to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to
the Gentiles.
---Galatians 1:15-16
February 23,
2008
“What’s a good
investment? Go home from work early and spend the afternoon
throwing a ball around with your son.”
---Ben Stein, American writer and commentator
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from
him.
---Psalm 127:3-4
February 24,
2008
“When you win,
say nothing. When you love, say less.”
---Paul Brown (1908-1991), football coach
The tongue will bring death or life; those who love to talk
will reap the consequences.
---Proverbs 18:21
February 25,
2008
Though I am
weak, yet God when prayed,
Cannot withhold His conquering aid.
---Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer,
philosopher
The Lord will answer when I call on him.
---Psalm 4:3
February 26,
2008
“Your most
unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
---Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, entrepreneur
If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty.
---Proverbs 13:18
February 27,
2008
“Invite people
to Christ, not to your experience of Him. We tend to make
our own experience a standard, and expect all others to come
as we came and feel as we felt. There are many experiences
but only one Saviour.”
---Vance Havner (1901-1986), evangelist
They listened as he told them about faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
---Acts 24:24
February 28,
2008
“No man thinks
there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about
himself.”
---Unknown
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.
---Philippians 2:3
February 29,
2008
“When you fast,
see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you
are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for
mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness.
If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what
you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.”
---Saint Peter Chrysologus (c.380-450 A.D.) Latin archbishop
of Ravenna
He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who
sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
---II Corinthians 9:6
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Please
look at my new blog,
