Do more than belong

Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.
—William Arthur Ward

The real test of character is how you treat other people when you’re most certain you’re right.—Wayne Jacobsen

“Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?”—Laurence J. Peter

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin.”—Lord Byron

Very few people ask for trouble. We certainly don’t ask God to give us problems. But maybe we should.

I received an interesting note from Thomas Wylie of Westminster, Maryland, who visited the Biosphere Two, a man-made living habitat in Arizona. During the tour the guide explained that one oversight of the designers was their failure to create wind within the structure. No wind to blow the trees back and forth created a problem: The trees would grow to a certain height and then topple over from their own weight. Lack of wind resulted in the trees not having a deeply extended root system.

Mr. Wylie explained that this thought made him realize that without the winds of adversity we cannot grow and become the people God designed us to be without toppling over. I agree. You cannot raise champions on a feather bed. The percentage of people who overcome adversity to go to great heights is legendary.

From time to time when the weather doesn’t suit us, all of us are inclined to say things like we wish we could make it rain or stop raining, the wind to blow more or less, that it would get cooler or warmer, etc. The biosphere clearly demonstrates to us that man is far more likely to “forget” some things or doesn’t have the wisdom to know things, as they forgot to let the wind blow to give the trees those roots. It really causes us to be grateful that God is in control of the total picture, and while we might not understand His head, we can certainly trust His heart.—Zig Ziglar

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What we call adversity, God calls opportunity. What we call tribulation, God calls growth.—Author unknown

You might be experiencing a little faith fatigue. You aren’t alone. All of us go through prayer slumps! Sometimes it’s the slow erosion of faith. But more often than not, the loss of a prayer life is traced to unanswered prayer. Death by disappointment. What do you do when God doesn’t answer how you want or when you want? Let me tell you what you don’t do: you don’t stop praying! It’s always too soon to quit. It’s always too soon to give up.