Spiritual Thoughts

Friday Tale ~ Nothing Beats Family    I  stepped  into my hotel room to a pleasant surprise. Lots of room surrounded an inviting king-size bed, flanked by overstuffed armchairs that rested against sliding glass doors that opened onto a private patio. A small dining table sat next to a kitchenette with a separate sink, refrigerator and coffee machine. "Wow," I thought to myself. "Nice place."   I love hotels - from the Holiday Inn Express to the Ritz-Carlton and everything in between. I love to enter a clean room, hang my clothes and gaze out the window, walk out in the morning knowing that each afternoon when I return, someone else will have made the bed. I like in-room dining and the way they greet you so professionally. "Nice to have you with us again, Mr. Goldsborough." Very cool.   The problem is that unless Alison travels with me, I never sleep well in hotels. I miss my family. Even though Linus and Camille, at ages 4 and almost 2, find a way to inter...

  A dversity has the effect of elicting talents, which in propserous circumstances would have lain dormant. ~ Horace I n this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  so that  the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the coming of Jesus Christ. ~ 1 Peter 1:6-7

  W ise people are wise because they have come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know. ~ William Saroyan M ake your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding. Then you will discern the fear of the LORD, and discover the knowledge of God. ~ Proverbs 2:2, 5

  N ever does a man portray his character more vividly than his proclaiming the character of another. ~ Winston Churchill T wo men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' BUT  the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,  BUT  he who humbles himself will be exalted . ~ Luke 18:10-14

  L ife is the movie you see through your own eyes. It makes little difference what is happening out there. It is how you take it that counts . ~ Denis Waitley D evote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it, with an attitude of thanksgiving. ~ Colossians 4:2

  Friday Tale ~ The Flat Tire M y  tire had a staple in it. Of all times for this to happen -- a flat tire. But when is a good time for a flat tire? Not when you are wearing a suit and you have been traveling for nearly five hours and, adding to this bleak picture, nightfall is approaching. Wait; did I mention that I was on a country road? Okay, now you have the picture. There was only one thing to do: call AAA. Yeah, right. The cell phone I bought for security and protection in moments like this isn't in range to call anyone. "No Service" it says. No kidding! I sat for a few minutes moaning and complaining. It's a male thing. Then I began emptying my trunk so that I could get at the tire and tools needed to get the job done. I carry a large plastic container filled with what I call "just-in-case-stuff." When I am training or speaking, I love to have props with me. I hate leaving anything home so I bring everything . . . just in case. Cars buzz by me. A few ...

  T he greatest wealth is to live  content with little . ~ Plato K eep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." ~ Hebrews 13:15

  Love  is the foundation from which your decisions about your life should be made . ~ Daren L. Johnson L et us not love with just word or with tongue,  but  in deed and truth. ~ 1 John 3:18

  I  will gather myself around my faith, for light does the darkness most fear . ~ Jewel F inally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, .... taking up the shield of  faith  with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of evil. ~ Ephesians 6:10, 16

  D arkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. L ove does not rejoice in evil, BUT  rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

  Friday Tale ~ The Power of Presence T he  last time my father, Frank, drove a car, he left it idling in the driveway for three hours — keys in the ignition, radio softly playing an oldies station from the 60s. A neighbor had to come knock on the door. That was the day we knew. The world, for him, had to get smaller. He’s 87 now. His universe has shrunk to the four walls of the home he built in 1968, after coming back from Vietnam. His longest journey these days is from the old leather armchair — the one molded perfectly to his shape — to the porch swing out front. There, with his coffee and his silence, he watches the world move on without him. I drove down last Sunday. Not because it was his birthday, or a holiday, but because of that quiet, guilty feeling in my gut that said, go while you still can. He was in his chair, as always, the TV too loud and the coffee too strong. When he saw me through the screen door, his face softened into that slow, worn smile I’d been missing...