Change

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Life in Christ

A dungeon with Christ is a throne, and a throne without Christ a hell.

Martin Luther

Control

You can't control the length of your life, but you can control its width and depth. You can't control the contour of your face, but you can control its expression. You can't control the weather, but you can control the atmosphere of your mind. Why worry about things you can't control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?

Unknown

Sin

“Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love”

John Bunyan

Quiet Time

Do not have your concert first and tune your instruments afterwards. Begin the day with God.

James Hudson Taylor

Who's In Charge

As the inhabitants of a singal speck of dirt hurtling through space at sixty thousand miles per hour around a nameless star that is one among billions of stars in a galaxy that is also one among billions, we humans get it. We're not in charge.

Oliver Thomas


The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 103:19

Passions

What if, in getting what we want, we become someone that God doesn’t want?

J.W.F.


Be careful what desires you allow to make their home in your heart. We are what our desires make of us.


Psalm 51

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Providence

Too many people were born on third base and think they hit a triple.

Pat Summit

Today

Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.

Hosea 10:12
The Living Bible

Tomorrow is never a good time to do a good thing, especially a spiritual thing, for tomorrow always seems to get blown away by the wind of today's interruptions. Do it now. Repent. Pray. Witness. Say I love you. Write a thank you note. Forgive. Apologize. Whatever good thing you have to do. Do it today.

tolerance

Don't be so open minded that your brains fall out!

Life & Living

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.

Teddy Roosevelt

Death

We picture death as coming to destroy; let us rather picture Christ as coming to save. We think of death as ending; let us rather think of life as beginning, and that more abundantly. We think of losing; let us think of gaining. We think of parting, let us think of meeting. We think of going away; let us think of arriving. And as the voice of death whispers "You must go from earth," let us hear the voice of Christ saying, "You are but coming to Me!"

Norman Macleod

Worry

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)


"Cast all your anxieties upon Jesus, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7


I love this quote by Spurgeon, and this scripture in James, which is most likely what inspired Spurgeon in the first place. I find it interesting that, for those who worry, worry turns into weary; it is exhausting. However, given time, trust in Jesus is physically and mentally empowering. I also find it interesting that for us, to worry or to trust is totally within our control. It is a decision we make.

Bitterness

“…we treat our wounds and grievances like pets. Whenever we can, we pull them out, pet them, show them off, caress them, and carry them with us. Our pets are never far away, always ready to sit on our laps, roll over and do tricks, and entertain our friends. Yes, we do all that with wounds and grievances over which we have long been angry. It’s an odd picture, but a true one.”

Bill Denton in Pulpit Helps, August 2006
"The Skeleton at the Feast."


The difference between a good pet and an old wound or grievance however, is the pet loves us and adds to our well being. An old wound or grievance is poison on the devil's serving tray. Maybe it's time we pass on that drink. It's true. When we hold on to a hurt, who exactly is it that we're hurting?

Worry

One is given strength to bear what happens to one, but not the 100 and 1 different things that might happen.

C. S. Lewis

Contentment

It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.

James Mackintosh

Joy

I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries, I am beholden to Jesus.

Malcolm Muggeridge

Truth

God, who prepares His work for the ages, accomplishes it by the feeblest instruments. It is the method of His providence to produce great results from inconsiderable means. The law which pervades the kingdom of nature is discerned in the history of mankind. Truth makes silent progress, like the water that trickles behind the rocks, and loosens them from the mountain on which they rest. Suddenly the hidden operation is revealed, and a single day suffices to lay bare the work of years, if not of ages.

John Lanahan

Parenting/Prayer

When I was a child we had a "five minute rule" in ourhouse. What it meant was that we were all to be readyfor school five minutes before we actually had toleave. We were a large family and that extra fiveminutes was prayer time for Mother and us children. The place was wherever Mother happened to be when wewere all ready to leave. Sometimes it was thekitchen, other times the living room or bedroom, oreven out on the porch. But we all kneeled whileMother asked a blessing on each of us individually andthanked the Lord for His provision for us. Often allof our names were spoken and some special blessingasked for each. If a neighborhood child dropped in towalk to school with us (and neighbors often did), theywere included in our prayer circle too. When theprayer was finished, there came a kiss for each, andwe were off. Those were Five Important Minutes toeach of us.

Adelaida Blanton

My mom used to have a similar practice. It wasn't all the time, but these memories are vivid in my mind. It would do any parent well to count such a habit ofprayer over their children a dear privilege.