Wiser on Wednesdays - There is Enough Time

Mamas, slow down. Quiet the rush and create a hush. This time only lasts a short while with your children. 

Wiser on Wednesdays - Calvin and Hobbes on Santa Claus

“CALVIN: This whole Santa Claus thing just doesn't make sense. Why all the secrecy? Why all the mystery? If the guy exists why doesn't he ever show himself and prove it?
And if he doesn't exist what's the meaning of all this?

HOBBES: I dunno. Isn't this a religious holiday?

CALVIN: Yeah, but actually, I've got the same questions about God.”  - Bill Watterson

Wiser on Wednesdays - 15 Quotes of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died. During his long life, Mandela inspired countless individuals. Here is a collection of quotes that personify his spirit:

1) "Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end."

2) "It always seems impossible until it's done."

3) "If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man."

4) "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."

5) "Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."

6) "A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of."

7) "Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do."

8) "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

9) "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

10) "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

11) "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

12) "Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front."

13) "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

14) "I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days."

15) "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

Wiser on Wednesday - ...when I grow up...

Almost certain of what I will do when I grow up.

And just as steadfastly determined never to "grow up" completely--where's the fun in that?

So the question becomes, "what must I do now, today that manifests love and gives life?" The answer involves what it really means to be grown. Right?

To be free and filled with joy in a way that no bars, nor sadness, not even a justifiable despair, can steal this light. I am happy to be me and I am happy to be changing into something extraordinary: me tomorrow.

Not so much grown, but growing...a giant eventually: as love as love can be, over flowing with wonder, whimsy and the wisdom that can only come from courage and failure and exhaustion and well earned rest, disappointment and the fulfillment of making and being a difference

Toby D.Sanders - January 10. 2013

Wiser on Wednesday - Our Thoughts

We cannot always control our thoughts; but, we can surely remember in a way that gives the present the power it needs to endure whatever challenges us, appreciate whatever aides us, and overcome whatever threatens to limit us, in service of a better tomorrow. It all begins with a form of thoughtfulness that is open and directed and hopeful. - Toby D. Sanders (January 30, 2013)

Wiser on Wednesday - The Best Road

If you don't like the path, make your own.

Wiser on Wednesday - Be strong enough to...

Wiser on Wednesday - Three Simple Life Rules

Wiser on Wednesday - Golda Meir

Wiser on Wednesday - The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12 
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him,(2) and He began to teach them, saying:

3) Blessed are are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.
7) Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.
10) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11) Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12) Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Wiser on Wednesday - Sweet Honey in the Rock

Wiser on Wednesday - Frederick Douglass

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. 

You cannot have crops without plowing up the ground 

or rain without thunder and lightning 
 Frederick Douglass

We Who Believe in Freedom Can Not Rest

We Who Believe in Freedom Can Not Rest

1990 - 'Voices' festival in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Wiser on Wednesday - "I Be Your Water"

Wiser on Wednesday - Elie Wiesel

We must not see any person as an

abstraction.

Instead, we must see in every

person a universe with its own 

secrets,

with its own treasures, with its

own sources of anguish,

and with some measure of

triumph.

from The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code

Wiser on Wednesday - Inspiration

...from the inside inspiration springs. Motivation is largely external, sticks and carrots--but inspiration is born within us, from the wellspring of creativity that is LIFE itself. Christ within us is such an event. ...in an age that is defined by incentives and motivation, sticks and carrots abound, but inspiration is the true hope, the way we become the solution, the answer to our prayers.

This is a meaning of Christ, of Christmas: God seeks to transform us into the answers to our own prayers. This is the meaning of a baby savior. ... Toby D. Sanders

Quotes from a man named Maria Ranier Wilke

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation. " ~Maria Ranier Wilke

"Every perfect life is a parable invented by God".~Maria Ranier Wilke 

A Letter Concerning Toleration - John Locke

...I esteem it above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion and to settle the just bounds that lie between the one and the other. If this be not done, there can be no end put to the controversies that will be always arising between those that have, or at least pretend to have, on the one side, a concernment for the interest of men's souls, and, on the other side, a care of the commonwealth. . ..John Locke - A Letter Concerning Toleration*, 1689




* http://www.constitution.org/jl/tolerati.htm   A Letter Concerning Toleration

Religious tolerance and the domains of religious vs. civil institutions.

...I esteem that toleration to be the chief characteristic mark of the true Church. For whatsoever some people boast of the antiquity of places and names, or of the pomp of their outward worship; others, of the reformation of their discipline; all, of the orthodoxy of their faith — for everyone is orthodox to himself — these things, and all others of this nature, are much rather marks of men striving for power and empire over one another than of the Church of Christ. Let anyone have never so true a claim to all these things, yet if he be destitute of charity, meekness, and good-will in general towards all mankind, even to those that are not Christians, he is certainly yet short of being a true Christian himself.

Wiser on Wednesday - The Difference

I got up early one morning

and rushed right into the day;

I had so much to accomplish

that I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me,

and heavier came each task.

"Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered.

God answered, "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty,

but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.

I wondered why God didn't show me.

God said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence;

I tried all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided,

"My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning,

and paused before entering the day;

I had so much to accomplish

that I had to take time to pray.

Wiser on Wednesday - HOPE

Hope has two beautiful daughters - their names are anger and courage;

anger at the way things are;

and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are

St.  Augustine 

Thanks Beth