Choices....

Each day we have choices and based on those choices consequences will follow that leave marks on those we encounter. As Christians we must realize that our daily choices will affect those around us whether for good or bad, we are leaving a mark.

I recently had the privilege of overseeing some college instructors who were just learning to teach. What I found myself sharing with them as they made mistakes, was that the students they were teaching were like fresh play dough. The instructor's words and actions were making an impression on these young kids for better or for worse. Yes they were just teaching a game, but in the process they were impacting them for life about how to be kind, use good language when frustrated, how to persevere, how to win and lose graciously, and to feel good about their efforts.

As Christians we do the same thing in our walk for Christ. We walk daily among those who are less fortunate, need a helping hand, or a kind word. Are we sharing Christ to those in our path with our everyday words and actions?

Lord, open our eyes and help us to see  those who are less fortunate and give a helping hand, a kind word to those who are struggling, share the love of Christ with an attitude of gratitude in all we do, leaving good marks on those we meet, for a good testament to Christ who lives in us.

 Below are some quotes and sayings I found that are guaranteed to make us reflect on our own choices and what those actions are telling others.....

Quotes:

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
- Leo Buscaglia.

Do Good Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend a year building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
- Mother Teresa.

Certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean spirited things
do occur in our interactions with other people that would tempt us to take offense.
However, ultimately it is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false.
To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted
or imposed upon us by someone or something else.
- David A. Bednar.

Every day I live, I am more convinced that the waste of life lies
in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used,
the selfish prudence that will risk nothing and which,
shirking pain, misses happiness as well.
- Mary Cholmondeley.

If we work upon marble, it will perish.
If we work upon brass, time will erode it.
If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust.
But if we work upon men’s immortal minds, if we imbue them
with high principles, with love of God and love of their fellowmen,
we engrave on those tablets something which no time will erase.
and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.
- Daniel Webster.


Nobody grows old by
merely living a number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
You are as young as your faith, and as old as your doubt;
As young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear;
As young as your hope, as old as your despair.
.- Douglas MacArthur.

A great many people think they are thinking
when they are really rearranging their prejudices.
- William James.


We must endure the winter, if we would value spring,
and the forest must be silent, . . . before the robins sing.
Flowers lay in darkness, before they bud & bloom,
and the sweetest rays of sunlight shine
after storm and gloom.
- Anonymous (edited by m.m.).

If you change the way you look at things,
the things you look at . . . change.
- Wayne Dyer.

When you come
to the edge of the Light you've known,
and now, must step into the darkness of unknown,
having faith means one of two things: Within the shadows,
there will be solid ground upon which to stand,
or . . . you will be taught to fly.
- Lorraine Ortner-Blake.

With the strength of human bodies that gradually fall apart,
we diligently endure in life's journey, faithfully pulling handcarts
loaded with personal trials and troubles across a vast prairie of opportunity;
where our loving Lord Jesus is ever willing to walk with us; bear each heavy burden,
till we reach the valley of His promise—forgiven and redeemed.
- Matt Moody .

My experience convinces me that optimism is just another word for amnesia—
no matter how bad my life is, I forget about it when the sun rises and I find myself with another chance! "A certain day became a presence to me; there it was, confronting me:
a sky, air, light—a being. And before it started to descend from the height of noon,
it leaned over & struck my shoulder as if with the flat of a sword, granting
me honor and a task. The day's blow rang out, metallic—
or it was I, a bell awakened, and what I heard
was my whole self saying and singing
what it knew . . . . I can.
.- Denise Levertov.

The only real revolution is in
the enlightenment of the mind
and the improvement of character,
the only real emancipation is individual,
and the only real revolutionaries
are philosophers and saints.
- Durant.



You don't drown by falling into troubled waters; instead,
you drown because you don't know how to swim, or
fail to fully apply the ability to swim. There is
always a way out of turbulent waters:
Find it! Learn it! Apply it!
- Matt Moody .

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You're playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we naturally inspire
others to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,
our shining presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
and optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
- Winston Churchill.


Excellence versus Winning

If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it;
Every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

When an archer is shooting for nothing . . . he has all his skill.
If he shoots for a brass buckle . . . he is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of gold . . . he goes blind;
or sees two targets . . . he is out of his mind!
His skill has not changed. But the prize . . . divides him. He cares.
He thinks more of winning than of shooting . . .
and the need to win drains him of power.
- Chuang Tzu, 400 B.C..

Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things.
Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.
- Alfie Kohn.

Whenever you fall, pick something up.
- Oswald Avery.

There are two ways to live your life.
One as though nothing is a miracle.
The other as though everything is a miracle..
- Albert Einstein.



Four People

This is a story about four people named:
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done
and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, . . . but Nobody did it.

Now Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it,
but Nobody realized . . . that Everybody wouldn't do it.

In the end, Everybody blamed Somebody
when Nobody did . . . what Anybody could have done.



Tao of Leadership

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need..
By yielding, I endure. The empty space is filled.
When I give of myself, I become more.
When I feel most destroyed, I am about to grow.
When I desire nothing, A great deal comes to me.




For Those Who Have Suffered

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, . . . that I might learn humility.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity, . . . that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, . . . that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given affliction, . . . that I might feel the need for Grace.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, . . . that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I foolishly asked for . . .
but received everything I hoped for.

"For God performeth the thing that is appointed for me,
He hath tried me, and I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10,14)



For Those Who have Lost Loved Ones

You can a shed tear that she is gone
or smile that she has lived.

You can close your eyes and curse your emptiness
or open your eyes and be filled with the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and mourn yesterday
or live for tomorrow . . . because of yesterday.

Your heart can feel sad because you're not with her
or feel glad because she is with God.

You can think of her and only that she's gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
- David Harkin.




The Birth Called Death

In a beautiful blue lagoon
on a clear day, a fine sailing-ship
spreads its brilliant white canvas in a fresh morning breeze
and sails out to the open sea. We watch her glide away magnificently
through the deep blue and gradually see her grow smaller and smaller
as she nears the horizon. Finally, where the sea and sky meet,
she slips silently from sight; and someone near me says,
"There, she is gone!" Gone where?
Gone from sight -- that is all.
She is still as large in mast and hull and sail,
still just as able to bear her load. And we can be sure that,
just as we say, "There, she is gone!" another says, "There, she comes!"
- Paul Dunn.

Change

They must often change,
who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
- Confucius.

Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
- James A. Baldwin.