Are you part of the team?

A house divided against itself cannot stand.  An athletic team filled with “ grand standers” does not win pennants.  A stage play infested with “scene stealers” quickly becomes a flop.

You cannot grow by pulling opposite to your team.  It is only through cooperation that you will rise above the crowd.

Personality attractiveness is determined by the spirit of cooperation that you and I bring into our corner of the world daily.

“Humans are made for cooperation.

We've been given like hands, like

feet, like upper and lower teeth,

like eyelids…these are made to

work together.  To act against one

another, then, is contrary to nature!”

Marcus Aurelius, A successful

Roman Emperor.  

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

“Professionals can do their best whether they feel like it or not.”  What we call life is for “professionals” not “amateurs.”

Success in almost any business endeavor is caused more by mental attitudes than by mental capacities.

When your work day seems so long…remember that if you want to turn hours into minutes, renew your enthusiasm.

Formula for success:  “When the rock is hard, we get harder than the rock.  When the job is tough, we get tougher than the job.”

“Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.”     Ecclesiastes 7:19

How should we handle failure?

Failure is experienced by each of us.  How should we handle it?

1.      Gain courage from others.  History provides many examples of those who like the famous Louis Pasteur, “Rose triumphant from the ashes of his own mistakes.”  Remember the failures overcome by Abraham, David and Paul

2.      Remember your freedom in choosing your reaction to the uncontrolled circumstances that bring about failure.  Only the water inside a ship can sink it.  You are somebody!  You have been created in the image of God!

3.      Allow God the time to make a difference.  The presence of Jesus in our history is proof that the Creator cares for us.  He knows each of us by name.  Learn from the prophet Isaiah, “The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.”

What does it take to have peace?

“Keeping peace in a family requires patience, love, understanding and at least two television sets with remote controls.”

Peace in any family whether biological or community involves two coordinates:  “proper attitude and productive, tangible actions resulting from that attitude.”

PEACE demands that we seek to understand whether we are understood or not.  Peace remembers that it is more important to get in the first thought than it is to have the last word.  Yes, peace requires patience, love and understanding.

The prayers that we live ON OUR FEET are just as important as THOSE SAID ON OUR KNEES.  Peace has a tangible price “at least two television sets”…actions that are expressed in our contributing time in acts of kindness…sometimes with our money…and always with our efforts.

“So faith, by itself, if it has no works is dead.”  James 2:17

ARE YOU QUICK ON THE "FLAW"?

“…there is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, it hardly behooves any of us to speak ill of the rest of us.”  Robert Burns

We display our greatest wisdom by accentuating the good in people and minimizing their weaknesses or flaws.

Successful people know to search for the good in others…how to praise those good qualities…THEN to offer sincere and charitable judgment.

Quite often the severest critics are those who have never attempted a difficult worthwhile project or who have failed in their effort to reach an objective.

DO NOT BECOME THE CRITIC WHO IS ALWAYS QUICK ON THE FLAW!

"HE" WILL NEVER FAIL YOU

“Take from a man his wealth, and you hinder him; take from him purpose, and you slow him down. But take from man his HOPE, and you STOP  HIM.  He can go on without wealth, and even without purpose, for a while. But he can not go on without hope.” 

Neil Strait.

Here is one statement…a statement of both faith and history that will renew hope in the darkest hours:

“JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TODAY AND FOREVER.”  Hebrews 13:8 

LET US APPRECIATE HIM!

Take time

to

APPREICATE THE MEMORIES

…of a PERSON

            This one has enriched your life

            with encouragement, strength

            and inspiration.  Let the

            person know.

…of a LIFE-CHANGING EVENT

            Remember and thank GOD

            this moment is happening…

…of this NATION

            This unique freedom…

            remember the sacrifices

            that made it possible.

JESUS CHRIST, the eternal

source of Blessing.

Because of Him

this life blends into life everlasting!

LET US APPRECIATE HIM!