The Homeless Woman’s Poem

A homeless woman once approached a preacher for help, but because he was busy and helpless, he turned her away and offered to pray for her instead.

The homeless woman, it is said, wrote this poem as a response too that insensitive minister:
"I was hungry, and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to my chapel and prayed for my release.
I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God but I am still very hungry - and lonely - and cold."

~ Source unknown

Neighborly Prayer

Some of you may be familiar with a story by journalist Tom Junod. It is a true story of a young man afflicted with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy did not affect this young man’s mind, but it affected his motor skills and his ability to speak. The boy could only communicate through typing on his computer.
In addition to his physical disabilities, the boy suffered emotional problems after some of his care givers callously abused him. Overwhelmed with self-hatred, the boy often hit himself. Using his computer, he wrote to his mother that he wished he could die.
There was one thing that seemed to bring the boy comfort: watching “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” The kindly, mild-mannered Mr. Rogers emphasized that all people are valuable and worthy of love. His calming demeanor and accepting message touched the boy’s heart and gave him hope.
One day a children’s foundation set up a meeting between the boy and his hero, Mr. Rogers. Upon meeting Mr. Rogers, the boy became so nervous that he began hitting himself, and his mother had to take him to another room to calm him down. When he returned, Mr. Rogers carried on their conversation as if nothing had happened.
And then Mr. Rogers ended the conversation by asking the boy a very special favor: would this boy pray for him? The boy was floored by this request. Would he pray for Mr. Rogers? He had always been the object of someone else’s prayers.
But from that day forward, the boy began praying for Fred Rogers, and he experienced a new sense of hope and self-esteem through this act of praying for a man he so admired. When Tom Junod complimented Fred Rogers on this idea, Rogers reacted with surprise. He had been sincere in his request for the boy’s prayers.
As he said, “I didn’t ask him for his prayers for HIM, I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.”

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, adapted from Tom Junod, Esquire, November 1998

Procrastination

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."

~ Don Marquis

Charles Kettering quotes

A person must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere.

A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.

An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.

Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress.

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

I object to people running down the future. I am going to live all the rest of my life there.

If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.

If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.

In America we can say what we think, and even if we can't think, we can say it anyhow.

Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need.

It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again.

It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.

Knowing is not understanding. There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.

My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the time it has to be done. You can be sincere and still be stupid.

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.

No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.

One fails forward toward success.

Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.

People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones.

People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.

Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.

The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

The future can be anything we want it to be, providing we have the faith and that we realize that peace, no less than war, required "blood and sweat and tears."

The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution.

The only time you mustn't fail is the last time you try.

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.

The Wright brothers flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility.

There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.

There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.

Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax.

We need to teach the highly educated man that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world.

We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee to fail intelligently... to experiment over and over again and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.

You can be sincere and still be stupid.

You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.

You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.

~ Charles Kettering
American Inventor, b. 1876, d. 1958
www.brainyquote.com

She thinks I'm real!

A family settled down for dinner at a restaurant. The waitress first took the order of the adults, then turned to the seven year old. 'What will you have?' she asked.
The boy looked around the table timidly and said, 'I would like to have a hot dog.'
Before the waitress could write down the order, the mother interrupted. 'No hot dogs,' she said, 'Get him a steak with mashed potatoes and carrots.'
The waitress ignored her. 'Do you want ketchup or mustard on your hot dog?' she asked the boy.
'Ketchup.'
'Coming up in a minute,' said the waitress as she started for the kitchen.
There was a stunned silence when she left. Finally the boy looked at everyone present and said, 'Know what? She thinks I'm real!'

~ Anthony deMello in The Heart of the Enlightened

No Theories

"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories."

~ John Wilmot

Denominations

“I don’t care what denomination you belong to, as long as you’re ashamed of it.”

~ Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg

Procrastination

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."

~ Don Marquis

Reasoning Correctly

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

~ Michel de Montaigne

What You Heard is Not What I Meant

I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

~ Robert McCloskey

How You are Old

"It is not how old you are, but how you are old."

~ Jules Renard

A Crystal-Clear Reflection of a Love

Today, throughout the world, Taizé’s name evokes peace, reconciliation, communion and the ardent expectation of a springtime of the Church:
“When the Church listens, heals, reconciles, then she becomes what she is in her most radiant aspect: a crystal-clear reflection of a love.” (Brother Roger)

http://www.taize.fr/en_article2468.html

We Went Up and Up

One of the elders used to say: In the beginning when we got together we used to talk about something that was good for our souls, and we went up and up, and ascended even to heaven.
But now we get together and spend our time in criticizing everything, and we drag one another down into the abyss.

~ Wisdom of the Desert Fathers

Manipulative Skills

Therapy doesn't actually help sociopaths--it further enables their bad behavior by sharpening their manipulative skills.

~ from a study by Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow, psychiatrists specializing in the criminal mind

Charles M. Schulz quotes

A whole stack of memories never equal one little hope.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

Aunt Marion was right... Never marry a musician, and never answer the door.

Big sisters are the crabgrass in the lawn of life.

Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.

I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind! The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building.

I love mankind; it's people I can't stand.

I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.

If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?

No problem is so formidable that you can't walk away from it.

No problem is too big to run away from.

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another.

The way I see it, it doesn't matter what you believe just so you're sincere.

There is no problem so big it cannot be run away from.

There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.

Try not to have a good time... this is supposed to be educational.

Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

~ Charles M. Schulz

The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD

The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

~ Proverbs 20:27 KJV

Be Careful What You Pretend to Be

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Song of Solomon 8:6-10

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.
8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister, on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.

Nothing for Us to Do

"If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn't be anything for us to do."

~ George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist

Fools Corrupt Power

“Power does not corrupt men. Fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

~ George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist