Saturday ~ January 25,2020

When we can begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.

(Katherine Mansfield, 1888-1923)

Friday ~ January 24, 2020

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they be a little coarse, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again; you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882)

Thursday 23, 2020

This crowd on Earth they soon forget
The heroes of the past.
They cheer like mad until you fail
and that's how long you last.
But God He never does forget
and in His hall of Fame
By just believing in His Son
Inscribed you'll find your name.

Thursday ~ January 23,2020

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

(Wendell Berry, b. 1934)

Wednesday ~ January 22, 2020

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well, safely rest.
God is nigh.
Fades the light; And afar
Goeth day, and the stars
Shineth bright.
Fare thee well; day has gone.
Night is on.
Thanks and praise, For our days,
"Neath the sun, Neath the stars,
'Neath the sky,
As we go, this we know,
God is nigh.

("Taps," arranged in 1862 by Daniel Butterfield)

Tuesday ~ January 21, 2020

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail.

(Helen Keller, 1880-1960)

Monday ~ January 20, 2020

"One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of the status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."

 (Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968)

Sunday ~ January 19, 2020

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

(Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971)