Your Friend, GOD

In this vast universe
There is but one supreme truth -
That God is our friend!
By that truth meaning is given
To the remote stars, the numberless centuries,
The long and heroic struggle of mankind...
O my Soul, dare to trust this truth!
Dare to rest in God's kindly arms,
Dare to look confidently into His face,
Then launch thyself into life unafraid!
Knowing thou art within thy Father's house,
That thou art surrounded by His love,
Thou wilt become master of fear,
Lord of Life, conqueror even of death.

The Joy of Work

Give us, oh, give us, the man who sings at his work!
He will do more in the same time, - he will do it better, -
he will persevere longer. One is scarcely sensible
of fatigue whilst he marches to music. The very stars
are said to make harmony as they resolve in their spheres.
Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, altogether past
calculation in its power of endurance. Efforts, to be
permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous, a spirit
all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful
because bright. [Thomas Carlyle]

Attitude

There is a little difference in people,
but the little difference makes a
big difference. The little difference
is attitude. The big difference is
whether it is positive or negative.
[Clement Stone]


It isn't what you have or who you are, or
where you are or what you are doing that
makes you happy or unhappy. It is what
you think about it.
For example, two people may be in the
same place, doing the same thing;
both may have an equal amount of money
and prestige - and yet, one may be miserable
and the other happy. Why? Because of
different mental attitudes.
[Dale Carnegie]


The greatest discovery of my generation
is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering their attitudes of mind.
[William James]

Advice

The large caliber executive welcomes suggestions.
The small-caliber executive resents them, imagining
that he knows it all and it is presumptuous for
anyone to offer him advice. To win promotion,
be unselfish, receptive, responsive, always rating
first the well being of the company. To become big,
play the game in a big way. [B C Forbes]

Action

Iron rusts from disuse;
Water loses its purity from
stagnation and in cold
weather becomes frozen;
so inaction saps the vigor
of the mind.

I did something today

Look at a day when you are supremely
satisfied at the end. It's not a day when
you lounge around doing nothing. It's when
you've had everything to do, and you've
done it. [Margaret Thatcher]

Accomplishment

If you imagine it, you can possess it.
If you can dream it, you can become it.
If you can envision it, you can attain it.
If you can picture it, you can achieve it.

My Goals

A little braver when the skies are gray,
A little stronger when the road seems long,
A little more of patience through the day,
And not so quick to magnify a wrong.

A little kinder, both of thought and deed,
A little gentler with the old and the weak,
Swifter to sense another's pressing need
And not so fast the hurtful phrase to speak.

These are my goals - not flung beyond my power,
Not dreams of glory, beautiful but vain,
Not the great heights where buds of genius flower,
But simple splendors which I ought to gain.

These I can do and be from day to day
Along the humble pathway where I plod,
So that at last when I am called away
I need not make apologies to God.
[Edgar A. Guest]

The Dreams Ahead

What would we do in this world of ours
Were it not for the dreams ahead?
For thorns are mixed with the blooming flowers
No matter which path we tread.

And each of us has his golden goal,
Stretching far into the years;
And ever he climbs with a hopeful soul,
With alternate smiles and tears.

That dreams ahead is what holds him up
Through the storms of a ceaseless fight;
When his lips are pressed to the wormwood's
cup and clouds shut out the light.
To some it's a dream of high estate;
To some it's a dream of wealth;
To some it's a dream of truce with fate
In a constant search for health.

To some it's a dream of home and wife;
To some it's a crown above;
The dreams ahead are what make each life -
The dreams - and faith - and love!
[Edwin Carlile Litsey]