Yesterday and Tomorrow
There are two days in every week about
which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free
from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all
its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever
beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot
bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not worry
about is Tomorrow-
with all its possible
adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond
our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask
of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens
of those two awful eternity's
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today
that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something
which happened Yesterday and the dread of what
Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.
~~ Author Unknown
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow's a mystery.
Today is a gift; that's why they call it the Present.
~~ Author Unknown
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Your Best Friend
Dr. Norman Peale writes of how he met Henry Ford:
"I met the legendary Henry Ford only once. It was when I was a newspaper reporter in Detroit in 1921. Coming out of the Detroit railroad station, I saw a man standing beside a car and I recognized him as Henry Ford. He was looking at a piece of paper that he held in his hand. In the front seat of the car was a woman I recognized as Mrs. Ford.
"I walked over and said, 'Mr. Ford, I may never have this opportunity again and I admire you so much. I would just like to shake your hand.' He extended his hand and asked what I did. I told him I worked on a newspaper.
"He then asked me a seemingly irrelevant question. 'Who is your best friend?' Without waiting for my answer, he tore off a ragged piece from the paper he was holding and wrote with a pencil, 'Your best friend is the person who brings out the best that is within you,' and signed it 'Henry Ford.'"
~~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, This Incredible Century
"I met the legendary Henry Ford only once. It was when I was a newspaper reporter in Detroit in 1921. Coming out of the Detroit railroad station, I saw a man standing beside a car and I recognized him as Henry Ford. He was looking at a piece of paper that he held in his hand. In the front seat of the car was a woman I recognized as Mrs. Ford.
"I walked over and said, 'Mr. Ford, I may never have this opportunity again and I admire you so much. I would just like to shake your hand.' He extended his hand and asked what I did. I told him I worked on a newspaper.
"He then asked me a seemingly irrelevant question. 'Who is your best friend?' Without waiting for my answer, he tore off a ragged piece from the paper he was holding and wrote with a pencil, 'Your best friend is the person who brings out the best that is within you,' and signed it 'Henry Ford.'"
~~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, This Incredible Century
Spiritual Friendship
"Spiritual friendship is the union of hearts and minds, united in one purpose. There is joy in doing this; in the love, spirit and energy."
Dr. Kathleen Brown, director of formation for ministry at the Washington Theological Union, Washington, D.C.
from a seminar: Companions on the Journey: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship, at Newman Theological College
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2005/
0704/cousins070405.shtml
Dr. Kathleen Brown, director of formation for ministry at the Washington Theological Union, Washington, D.C.
from a seminar: Companions on the Journey: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship, at Newman Theological College
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2005/
0704/cousins070405.shtml
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Late Ripeness, Czeslaw Milosz
Late Ripeness
Czeslaw Milosz
Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,
I felt a door opening in me and I entered
the clarity of early morning.
One after another my former lives were departing,
like ships, together with their sorrow.
And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas
assigned to my brush came closer,
ready now to be described better than they were before.
I was not separated from people,
grief and pity joined us.
We forget - I kept saying - that we are all children of the King.
For where we come from there is no division
into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.
We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part
of the gift we received for our long journey.
Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago -
a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror
of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel
staving its hull against a reef - they dwell in us,
waiting for a fulfillment.
I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,
as are all men and women living at the same time,
whether they are aware of it or not.
Czeslaw Milosz: New and Collected Poems (1931-2001)
Czeslaw Milosz
Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,
I felt a door opening in me and I entered
the clarity of early morning.
One after another my former lives were departing,
like ships, together with their sorrow.
And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas
assigned to my brush came closer,
ready now to be described better than they were before.
I was not separated from people,
grief and pity joined us.
We forget - I kept saying - that we are all children of the King.
For where we come from there is no division
into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.
We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part
of the gift we received for our long journey.
Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago -
a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror
of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel
staving its hull against a reef - they dwell in us,
waiting for a fulfillment.
I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,
as are all men and women living at the same time,
whether they are aware of it or not.
Czeslaw Milosz: New and Collected Poems (1931-2001)
Real Wealth
"The real measure of our wealth is how much we would
be worth if we lost all our money."
from Jan
be worth if we lost all our money."
from Jan
Monday, July 04, 2005
"outsiders, not full members of the political community"
New York Times Editorial
July 2, 2005
O'Connor Held Balance of Power
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, July 1 - The O'Connor Court.
The phrase has been used so many times over so many years to describe the Supreme Court that it is nearly a cliché. Yet the simple words capture an equally simple truth: to find out where the court is on almost any given issue, look for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
If you are a lawyer with a case at the court, pitch your arguments to her. If your issue is affirmative action, or religion, or federalism, or redistricting, or abortion, or constitutional due process in any of its many manifestations, you can assume that the fate of that issue is in her hands. Don't bother with doctrinaire assertions and bright-line rules. Be meticulously prepared on the facts, and be ready to show how the law relates to those facts and how, together, they make sense.
. . .
Until the pair of Ten Commandments decisions this week, which found her in dissent from the ruling that upheld a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, she had occupied a central position on the role of religion in public life.
Beginning with her earliest years on the court, Justice O'Connor adopted her own test for evaluating whether government policy amounted to an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Instead of a three-part test that the court used, she asked whether the government policy under review conveyed to nonadherents the message that they were "outsiders, not full members of the political community."
This led her to vote to prohibit public prayer at high school graduations and football games, but to insist on equal access for student religious publications and clubs. In 2002, she voted with the 5-to-4 majority that upheld the use of publicly financed tuition vouchers at religious schools. In her opinion this week concurring with the 5-to-4 majority that declared framed copies of the Ten Commandments hanging in Kentucky courthouses to be unconstitutional, she said the Constitution's religion clauses "protect adherents of all religions, as well as those who believe in no religion at all."
. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/politics/
politicsspecial1/02oconnor.html?th&emc=th
July 2, 2005
O'Connor Held Balance of Power
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, July 1 - The O'Connor Court.
The phrase has been used so many times over so many years to describe the Supreme Court that it is nearly a cliché. Yet the simple words capture an equally simple truth: to find out where the court is on almost any given issue, look for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
If you are a lawyer with a case at the court, pitch your arguments to her. If your issue is affirmative action, or religion, or federalism, or redistricting, or abortion, or constitutional due process in any of its many manifestations, you can assume that the fate of that issue is in her hands. Don't bother with doctrinaire assertions and bright-line rules. Be meticulously prepared on the facts, and be ready to show how the law relates to those facts and how, together, they make sense.
. . .
Until the pair of Ten Commandments decisions this week, which found her in dissent from the ruling that upheld a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, she had occupied a central position on the role of religion in public life.
Beginning with her earliest years on the court, Justice O'Connor adopted her own test for evaluating whether government policy amounted to an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Instead of a three-part test that the court used, she asked whether the government policy under review conveyed to nonadherents the message that they were "outsiders, not full members of the political community."
This led her to vote to prohibit public prayer at high school graduations and football games, but to insist on equal access for student religious publications and clubs. In 2002, she voted with the 5-to-4 majority that upheld the use of publicly financed tuition vouchers at religious schools. In her opinion this week concurring with the 5-to-4 majority that declared framed copies of the Ten Commandments hanging in Kentucky courthouses to be unconstitutional, she said the Constitution's religion clauses "protect adherents of all religions, as well as those who believe in no religion at all."
. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/politics/
politicsspecial1/02oconnor.html?th&emc=th
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Humility
"Humble people don't think less of themselves . . .
they just think about themselves less."
-- Norman Vincent Peale
they just think about themselves less."
-- Norman Vincent Peale
Sharpening the Ax
from http://www.eteamrevolution.net/devotions/been-chopping-too-hard
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.
The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.
"I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."
"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."
(Source unknown)
Perhaps you have been swinging your axe a little too long, and you need a rest. Not just any rest, but one with a purpose. In order to accomplish this, you will need to do five things:
Get alone. I mean really alone. No cell phone, no pager, as remote as possible.
Bring a Bible. Focus on a few select passages of Scripture like the Psalms or the Gospels.
Pray. Not the standard ‘bless this food/help me I’ve got a test’ type prayer, but the ‘pouring out your heart’ before God type. Act like you’re talking to your best friend in the whole world, because you are.
Listen. When was the last time you just sat in silence and listened for God? My thought is, if Jesus needed to do it- you think we might need it too?
Worship. Praising God is a sure-fire way to get the blade razor-sharp, because it brings us to the place where we remember that God is God and we are not.
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.
The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.
"I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."
"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."
(Source unknown)
Perhaps you have been swinging your axe a little too long, and you need a rest. Not just any rest, but one with a purpose. In order to accomplish this, you will need to do five things:
Get alone. I mean really alone. No cell phone, no pager, as remote as possible.
Bring a Bible. Focus on a few select passages of Scripture like the Psalms or the Gospels.
Pray. Not the standard ‘bless this food/help me I’ve got a test’ type prayer, but the ‘pouring out your heart’ before God type. Act like you’re talking to your best friend in the whole world, because you are.
Listen. When was the last time you just sat in silence and listened for God? My thought is, if Jesus needed to do it- you think we might need it too?
Worship. Praising God is a sure-fire way to get the blade razor-sharp, because it brings us to the place where we remember that God is God and we are not.
The Discipline of Simplicity
from Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
Richard Foster divides discipline into three parts:
Inward, Outward, and Corporate discipline.
He places simplicity under the category of the Outward Disciplines:
First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation.
Seventh, look at a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes.
Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech.
Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of others.
Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from your main goal:
"Seek first the kingdom of God."
Richard Foster divides discipline into three parts:
Inward, Outward, and Corporate discipline.
He places simplicity under the category of the Outward Disciplines:
First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation.
Seventh, look at a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes.
Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech.
Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of others.
Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from your main goal:
"Seek first the kingdom of God."
Kind People in a Bad Mood
from Scott H. Bowerman, Dancing With God:
The theologian Leonard Sweet underwent what he describes as a "deconversion" when he was nineteen. He writes,
"What ignited my deconversion was the church’s funereal spirit, its fussy, buttoned-upness. Christians’ stay-at-home-and-pickle-in-their-own-juices personalities, their vinegary countenances, drained me emotionally, incapacitated me intellectually, and shut me down spiritually. The best I could say was this: by and large, Christians were kind people in a bad mood."
The theologian Leonard Sweet underwent what he describes as a "deconversion" when he was nineteen. He writes,
"What ignited my deconversion was the church’s funereal spirit, its fussy, buttoned-upness. Christians’ stay-at-home-and-pickle-in-their-own-juices personalities, their vinegary countenances, drained me emotionally, incapacitated me intellectually, and shut me down spiritually. The best I could say was this: by and large, Christians were kind people in a bad mood."
Be Charitable Towards One Another’s Lunacies
In Mark Twain’s characteristic sarcastic wit he called for civility and charity between those who differ in their religious and political perspectives:
All My Adversaries Are Insane
"When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic-—for that is part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his.
"All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and the Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad...This should move us to be charitable towards one another’s lunacies."
-- Mark Twain, What Is Man?: and Other Philosophical Writings
(Works of Mark Twain, Vol 19)
Samuel Langhorne CLEMENS, 1835-1910
"I, like all other human beings, expose to the world only my trimmed and perfumed and carefully barbered public opinions and conceal carefully, cautiously, wisely, my private ones."
-- Mark Twain in Eruption
All My Adversaries Are Insane
"When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic-—for that is part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his.
"All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and the Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad...This should move us to be charitable towards one another’s lunacies."
-- Mark Twain, What Is Man?: and Other Philosophical Writings
(Works of Mark Twain, Vol 19)
Samuel Langhorne CLEMENS, 1835-1910
"I, like all other human beings, expose to the world only my trimmed and perfumed and carefully barbered public opinions and conceal carefully, cautiously, wisely, my private ones."
-- Mark Twain in Eruption
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