Only through the capacity to see all relevant factors, to weigh them fairly, and to place them in relation to each other, can we hope to reach an accurately balanced judgment.
B.H. Liddell Hart
Friday, July 29, 2011
"Get The Facts"
A man's judgment cannot be better than the information on which he has based it.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger
"Independant Happiness"
Happiness depends more on the inward Disposition of Mind than on the outward Circumstances.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Thursday, July 7, 2011
"Be Not Distracted By The Postman's Uniform"
To say that God created Nature, while it brings God and Nature into relation, also separates them. What makes and what is made must be two, no one. Thus the doctrine of Creation in one sense empties Nature of divinity...By emptying Nature of divinity - or, let us say, of divinities - you may fill her with Deity, for she is now the bearer of messages. There is a sense in which Nature-worship silences her - as if a child or a savage were so impressed with the postman's uniform that he omitted to take in the letters.
Another result of believing in Creation is to see Nature not as a mere datum but as an achievement. Some of the Psalmists are delighted with its mere solidity and permanence. God has given to His works His own character of emeth; they are watertight, faithful, reliable, not at all vague or phantasmal. 'All His works are faithful - He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.' Psalm 33:4,9.
C.S. Lewis
Another result of believing in Creation is to see Nature not as a mere datum but as an achievement. Some of the Psalmists are delighted with its mere solidity and permanence. God has given to His works His own character of emeth; they are watertight, faithful, reliable, not at all vague or phantasmal. 'All His works are faithful - He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast.' Psalm 33:4,9.
C.S. Lewis
"Touch Of The Master's Hand"
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only
two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a
gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust
from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make
it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and
gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understand what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A
"mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is
going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." But the Master
comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.
Myra 'Brooks' Welch
thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile; "What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only
two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three.." But no, from the room, far back, a
gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust
from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody
pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make
it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and
gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understand what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A
"mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. "He is
going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone." But the Master
comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.
Myra 'Brooks' Welch
"Opening And Closing Your Day"
Let prayer be the key of the day and the bolt of the night.
Jean Paul Richter
Jean Paul Richter
"Rediscovering Childhood Wonder"
Janine came over this morning and opened up my world a little.
She played with my cat forever. (I was tempted to look at my watch.) We supposedly get together to read a book once a week, but we haven’t done that in ages; we just talk. Just talking is not normally on my agenda.
I showed her an article in a pet magazine that I was going to use to say disparaging things about animal rights people, and she found the article charming. It launched her into little spontaneous meditations on God’s creation and the antics of her dog Cooper.
My time with Janine reminded me of the times I had with my old friend Lynn, who passed away in 2003. Lynn used to stop at every flower and pine cone and hold it and examine it seriously from every angle, and ooh and ahh. She showed me (without being heavy-handed about it) that flowers are not just useless plants you can’t eat.
I don’t think Janine and Lynn consciously appointed themselves to be my deprogrammers, but I can tell that if I hang around Janine more, there is a chance I will undo some acculturation and recover childhood wonder. I am starting to entertain the funny idea that efficiency isn’t the only measure of a well-spent day.
As she was leaving the house, Janine pressed her nose up close to the light green bud-thingies that grow on the evergreen shrub near my steps. She looked delighted and said, “Wow, look at that! They look like little jesters with those funny floppy pointed hats!”
I have lived in this house for 25 years but never noticed the little green buds. “How about that, you’re right,” I said, taking a look at my surroundings for the first time.
Andree Seu
She played with my cat forever. (I was tempted to look at my watch.) We supposedly get together to read a book once a week, but we haven’t done that in ages; we just talk. Just talking is not normally on my agenda.
I showed her an article in a pet magazine that I was going to use to say disparaging things about animal rights people, and she found the article charming. It launched her into little spontaneous meditations on God’s creation and the antics of her dog Cooper.
My time with Janine reminded me of the times I had with my old friend Lynn, who passed away in 2003. Lynn used to stop at every flower and pine cone and hold it and examine it seriously from every angle, and ooh and ahh. She showed me (without being heavy-handed about it) that flowers are not just useless plants you can’t eat.
I don’t think Janine and Lynn consciously appointed themselves to be my deprogrammers, but I can tell that if I hang around Janine more, there is a chance I will undo some acculturation and recover childhood wonder. I am starting to entertain the funny idea that efficiency isn’t the only measure of a well-spent day.
As she was leaving the house, Janine pressed her nose up close to the light green bud-thingies that grow on the evergreen shrub near my steps. She looked delighted and said, “Wow, look at that! They look like little jesters with those funny floppy pointed hats!”
I have lived in this house for 25 years but never noticed the little green buds. “How about that, you’re right,” I said, taking a look at my surroundings for the first time.
Andree Seu
"Empathizing Kindness"
When thou seest any doing ill, presently ask thyself, 'Have not I done the like, or as bad'?
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller
"Empathizing Kindness"
True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one's own the sufferings and joy of others.
Andre Gide
Andre Gide
"The Joy Of Immersion"
The root of joy, as of duty, is to put all one's powers toward some great end. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing.
Phil Jackson
Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing.
Phil Jackson
"Stop Dilly-Dallying"
I have developed a distaste for the word “struggling”—as in “I am struggling with anger” (or lust, or homosexuality, or a bad temper, etc.).
It is a perfectly good word, and I know there are some people who are really “struggling.” But many other people are spoiling the word for everybody. They are using “struggling” to mean something more like “repeatedly giving in”—which is almost the opposite of “struggling,” seems to me.
I wonder what Jesus would say (will say) when we all come to give an account:
“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
When that day comes, Christ will ask each of his children if we “fought the good fight” and “kept the faith” and were workman with no need to be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). The Word says:
“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4).
The point is that you should.
So today on my prayer walk I had to repent of some dilly-dallying in a particular sin. I had to make up my mind to put to death the wavering (1 Kings 18:21) and to resolve, by God’s grace, to obey what I know his Word says.
Andree Seu
It is a perfectly good word, and I know there are some people who are really “struggling.” But many other people are spoiling the word for everybody. They are using “struggling” to mean something more like “repeatedly giving in”—which is almost the opposite of “struggling,” seems to me.
I wonder what Jesus would say (will say) when we all come to give an account:
“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
When that day comes, Christ will ask each of his children if we “fought the good fight” and “kept the faith” and were workman with no need to be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). The Word says:
“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4).
The point is that you should.
So today on my prayer walk I had to repent of some dilly-dallying in a particular sin. I had to make up my mind to put to death the wavering (1 Kings 18:21) and to resolve, by God’s grace, to obey what I know his Word says.
Andree Seu
"Use Your Noggin"
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
Sir William Drummond
Sir William Drummond
"Articles At Their Best"
There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil.
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
"Looking Busy?"
To be employ'd in useless Things is half to be idle.
Thomas Fuller
Toil is man's allotment; toil of the brain, or toil of the hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.
Herman Melville
Thomas Fuller
Toil is man's allotment; toil of the brain, or toil of the hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.
Herman Melville
"Love Personified"
Men become susceptible to ideas, not by discussion and argument, but by seeing them personified and by loving the person who so embodies them.
Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford
"Unchain Your Heart"
We are but fettered by chains of our own forging, and which ourselves also can rend asunder. This deep, paralyzed subjection to physical objects comes not from Nature, but from our own unwise mode of viewing Nature.
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
"All Things Pertaining To Life And Godliness"
He who gave our nature to be perfected by our virtue willed also the necessary means of its perfection.
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
"History's Biggest Battles"
History's biggest battles in the last analysis are fought in the hidden corners of our lives.
Peter W. Dickson
Peter W. Dickson
"Blending In With The Crowd"
There are multitudes of men and women who ...attempt to get rid of the sense of moral failure by identifying themselves with groups which condone or approve the indulgences which they are either unable or unwilling to give up.
Anton T. Boisen
Anton T. Boisen
"Rejoice In The Strengths Of Others"
The defects of great men are the consolation of dunces.
Issac D'Israeli
Issac D'Israeli
"We Need Grace"
We need grace in order to be able to live in such a way as to qualify ourselves to receive grace.
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
"Earned Privileges"
I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
"Did You Hear?"
Believe nothing against another but upon good Authority; Nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it.
William Penn
William Penn
"Be Good"
To the good I would be good; to the not-good I would also be good, in order to make them good.
Lao-Tzu
Lao-Tzu
"The Efficiency of Not Veering"
A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.
Andree Gide
Andree Gide
"Bring To Full Growth"
Man's only legitimate end in life is to finish God's work - to bring to full growth the capacities and talents implanted in us.
Eric Hopper
Eric Hopper
"Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do"
Neither urge another to that thou wouldst be unwilling to do thyself, nor do thyself what looks to thee unseemly and intemperate in another.
William Penn
William Penn
"If You Only Knew"
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
If you and I knew who Jesus was—really, really knew—would we pray differently? Wouldn’t it expand our imagination? Isn’t this what Jesus is saying to this Samaritan woman he has struck up a conversation with at the well: “Lady, if you really knew who you were talking to here, you and I wouldn’t be wasting our time in theological debate; you would be inundating me with requests for all your spiritual needs”?
My dullness about God tends to fall along two lines: Dullness about how powerful he wants to be in our lives and dullness about how involved he wants to be in our lives. I act as if forgiveness of sins is His entire gift, and not also the breaking of bondages, the bending of impossibilities, and the undoing varieties of the devil’s handiwork (1 John 3:8). He commended people who gave Him no rest in these concerns.
Two blind men gave Him no rest. They cried out to Jesus, and not only did He ignore them, He walked into someone’s house. They had to barge in after Him before they got satisfaction (Matthew 9:27-31).
The Syrophoenician woman gave Him no rest. She begged to the point of harassment, and Jesus gave her no encouragement. But she would not be put off until she got satisfaction (Mark 7:24-30).
Maybe Jesus was waiting to see how badly they wanted what they wanted, and how strongly they believed He was both merciful and able.
What is it that you wished for today that you kept to yourself and didn’t even think to pray for because you didn’t believe God would be willing to grant it?
Andree Seu
If you and I knew who Jesus was—really, really knew—would we pray differently? Wouldn’t it expand our imagination? Isn’t this what Jesus is saying to this Samaritan woman he has struck up a conversation with at the well: “Lady, if you really knew who you were talking to here, you and I wouldn’t be wasting our time in theological debate; you would be inundating me with requests for all your spiritual needs”?
My dullness about God tends to fall along two lines: Dullness about how powerful he wants to be in our lives and dullness about how involved he wants to be in our lives. I act as if forgiveness of sins is His entire gift, and not also the breaking of bondages, the bending of impossibilities, and the undoing varieties of the devil’s handiwork (1 John 3:8). He commended people who gave Him no rest in these concerns.
Two blind men gave Him no rest. They cried out to Jesus, and not only did He ignore them, He walked into someone’s house. They had to barge in after Him before they got satisfaction (Matthew 9:27-31).
The Syrophoenician woman gave Him no rest. She begged to the point of harassment, and Jesus gave her no encouragement. But she would not be put off until she got satisfaction (Mark 7:24-30).
Maybe Jesus was waiting to see how badly they wanted what they wanted, and how strongly they believed He was both merciful and able.
What is it that you wished for today that you kept to yourself and didn’t even think to pray for because you didn’t believe God would be willing to grant it?
Andree Seu
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
"Intelligent Design"
A watch without a watchmaker is less incredible than a creation without a Creator.
Anonymous
Anonymous
"Beyond The Grandeur"
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.
William Cowper
The grandeur of nature is only the beginning.
Beyond the grandeur is God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Whose cause is God.
William Cowper
The grandeur of nature is only the beginning.
Beyond the grandeur is God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
"Friendship Affection"
Friendship, affection is not acquired by giving presents. Friendship, affection comes about by two people sharing a significant moment, by having an experience in common.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel
"The Good Pleasure Of Thy Will"
Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love,
to praise what delights Thee most,
to value what is precious in Thy sight,
to hate what is offensive to Thee.
Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes,
nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men;
but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual,
and above all,
always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will.
Thomas a Kempis
to love what I ought to love,
to praise what delights Thee most,
to value what is precious in Thy sight,
to hate what is offensive to Thee.
Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes,
nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men;
but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual,
and above all,
always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will.
Thomas a Kempis
"He'd Rather Itch"
An inmate I was visiting commented that some guys show up in prison in such bad shape that he looks at them and thinks, “That wasn’t an arrest; it was a deliverance.” There is freedom, and then there is just rope to hang yourself.
I wonder if most of us wake up in the morning to a variety of bondages, and we put them on like a pair of pants, because we’re used to them. It’s worse than that: We don’t even want to be free of them. There is a man in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce who is hagridden by an annoying lizard (lust) on his shoulder day and night. Yet when an angel offers to kill it, he doesn’t want to:
“There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery. There is always something they prefer to joy—that is, to reality. . . . The time comes when, though the pleasure becomes less and less and the craving fiercer and fiercer, and though he knows that joy can never come that way, yet he prefers to joy the mere fondling of unappeasable lust, and would not have it taken from him. He’d fight to the death to keep it. He’d like well to be able to scratch: but even when he can scratch no more, he’d rather itch than not.”
How do you figure? Our bondages are ruining our lives—and still we hold on to them for dear life. Why? It seems to me we don’t really believe that God has anything to offer that we would like better. Heaven has always seemed boring to those who live in darkness. It’s just a matter of not believing God, I guess.
Andree Seu
I wonder if most of us wake up in the morning to a variety of bondages, and we put them on like a pair of pants, because we’re used to them. It’s worse than that: We don’t even want to be free of them. There is a man in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce who is hagridden by an annoying lizard (lust) on his shoulder day and night. Yet when an angel offers to kill it, he doesn’t want to:
“There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery. There is always something they prefer to joy—that is, to reality. . . . The time comes when, though the pleasure becomes less and less and the craving fiercer and fiercer, and though he knows that joy can never come that way, yet he prefers to joy the mere fondling of unappeasable lust, and would not have it taken from him. He’d fight to the death to keep it. He’d like well to be able to scratch: but even when he can scratch no more, he’d rather itch than not.”
How do you figure? Our bondages are ruining our lives—and still we hold on to them for dear life. Why? It seems to me we don’t really believe that God has anything to offer that we would like better. Heaven has always seemed boring to those who live in darkness. It’s just a matter of not believing God, I guess.
Andree Seu
"Slanted News & Herd Mentality"
...The "societal purpose" of the media is to inculcate and defend the economic, social, and political agenda of privileged groups that dominate the domestic society and the state. The media serve this purpose in many ways: through selection of topics, distribution of concerns, framing of issues, filtering of information, emphasis and tone, and by keeping debate within the bounds of acceptable premises…
Noam Chomsky
How a report is framed, which facts it contains and emphasizes and which it ignores, and in what context, are as important to shaping opinion as the bare facts themselves.
Mark Hertsgaard
It is this gregarious herd-sense and herd-smell which keeps people from thinking and so reconciles them to the destruction of their private lives.
Cyril Connolly
Noam Chomsky
How a report is framed, which facts it contains and emphasizes and which it ignores, and in what context, are as important to shaping opinion as the bare facts themselves.
Mark Hertsgaard
It is this gregarious herd-sense and herd-smell which keeps people from thinking and so reconciles them to the destruction of their private lives.
Cyril Connolly
"The Real Miracle: The Divine League"
To contrast the size of the oak with that of the parent acorn, as if the poor seed had paid all costs from its slender strong-box, may serve for a child’s wonder; but the real miracle lies in that divine league which bound all the forces of nature to the service of the tiny germ in fulfilling its destiny.
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
"Good Goals From Good Hearts"
Means have no merit, if our end amiss.
If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain.
Edward Young
If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain.
Edward Young
"The First Cause of Infinite Complexity…Must Be Omniscient"
From the intrinsic evidence of His creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.
Sir James Hopwood Jeans
Sir James Hopwood Jeans
"Change Your Will. Loose Your Chains"
My will was perverse and lust had grown from it, and when I gave in to lust habit was born, and when I did not resist the habit it became a necessity. These were the links which together formed what I have called my chain, and it held me fast in the duress of servitude.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine
"Work With Delight"
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and behold duty was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and behold duty was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
"Direct With Thoughtful Compassion"
I do not believe that any man can lead who does not act...under the impulse of a profound sympathy with those whom he leads.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
"Thank God For Beauty And Answered Prayer"
Answered prayers cover the field of providential history as flowers cover the western prairies.
T.L. Cuyler
T.L. Cuyler
"Mr. Rogers' Rules On Rules"
Call them rules or call them limits, good ones, I believe, have this in common: They serve reasonable purposes; they are practical and within a child's capability; they are consistent; and they are an expression of loving concern.
Fred Rogers
Fred Rogers
"Bring To Others The Deliverance"
He who has been delivered from pain must not think he is now free again, and at liberty to take life up just as it was before, entirely forgetful of the past. He is now a 'man whose eyes are open' with regard to pain and anguish, and he must help to overcome those two enemies...and to bring to others the deliverance which he has himself enjoyed.
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
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