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"If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world," said Bruce Barton, “it will come through the expression of your own personality—that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature.”1
Had we been present when Christ faced Pilate, we could have predicted with certainty the outcome. On the one hand stood Jesus. He was a Hebrew, a second class citizen. He commanded no armies; He had cultivated no friendships with prominent individuals; His only material possession at the time was a homespun cloak.
Early in the second decade of life, young people enter the stage of development popularly known as adolescence. The term, itself, seems clumsy. . . and it is, indeed, an awkward age. But it is such an important time. Unaccustomed physical changes affect the entire being— emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. The old childhood dependencies are cast aside.
During a winter month in one of this country's northern states, an eleven-year-old boy was playing with his friends when a wall of wet snow collapsed on him and buried him alive. Helplessly pinned with his arms behind him, he felt the snow stiffen and freeze entombing him and paralyzing his body. Soon he would die of suffocation.
Scholars have come to classify the different periods of mankind's history according to the most prominent human urges of the time. The era which produced the treasures of Greek literature and philosophy is now known as the Golden Age of Thought. That epoch during the 17th and 18th centuries when explorers and scientists uncovered new facts about our world is called the Age of Discovery. More recently, the Age of Technology has made the machine our servant.
Yes, awake thou wintry earth. Fling off thy sadness. . . renew thy bright array with fairest blooms of spring. Ah, the sights and sounds and smells of spring—the shimmer of dancing rain. . . the aroma of fresh turned soil. . . the promise of pink in an apricot bloom. . . the glint of morning sunlight on the window sill. No wonder we feel that increased vigor each morning.
On the world’s highest mountains there comes a point beyond which no tree can grow.
Centuries ago Augustine described the simple blessings of his world. He wrote, "How (pleasant) is the alternation of day and night. How abundant the supply of clothing furnished us by trees and animals. Who can enumerate all the blessings we enjoy?"1 Who indeed but you know.
The sound of this great Choir reminds us that music is one of the simple pleasures of life. It affects everyone. It moves and motivates. . . releases emotional tensions. . . keeps sensitivities alive. . . and helps exercise imaginations—not as an escape, but as a meaningful addition to life. For ages music has been used to heal the sick and comfort the distressed.
We have all seen the remarkable construction of the chambered seashell—how each year the developing marine animal adds another compartment to its home, making a larger, expanded dwelling to accommodate the annual growth. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ observation of this phenomenon led him to a conclusion about man's own need for continued growth and development. Speaking of the chambered nautilus, he wrote:
Is there really, somewhere, in a meadow far away, still a shepherdess who sings all day while she watches her flocks? If there is, we are separated from her by a thousand cares, our world caught up in crisis, strung with personal tensions and responsibilities that tie us up and bind our songs within our hearts. For too many of us the world is bleak and gray and cold, and we are breathless with hurry as we rush from one job to another. No time for meadows or easy songs.
A dynamic and optimistic executive was once asked if he ever got discouraged. His quick reply was a pearl of insight. He said, "I don't get discouraged, but I do get tired. The Lord surely knew what He was doing when He put a night between two days."
Oh divine Redeemer…turn me not away…grant me pardon and…remember not my sins… oh divine Redeemer. 1
Of all the sicknesses which afflict man, homesickness is at once the easiest to contract and the most difficult to cure. For we can be exposed to this infirmity with a simple change of scenery or even a temporary move from familiar surroundings. We all remember our first extended leave from home: whether we were at camp, the home of relatives, or away at school—the symptom was always the same; it is the inexplicable longing for the one place we call home.
The turn of a decade, perhaps even more than the turn of a year, is a time for reflection, a summing up of where we've been, where the last ten years have taken us. Many observers have called it an age of turbulence and disappointment, a time when optimism was dashed by the problems and challenges of a changing world. Some have called it a time of retreat from old values and old assumptions about the way things are or ought to be. And many look to this new decade with all the unease of a child who wakes up in a strange house in a dark room.
It is estimated that nearly three-million couples will be married in the United States this year – many for the first time. Marriage is on exciting, momentous time in a person's life. One author wrote, " There is something about a wedding-gown prettier than . . . any other gown in the world ."1 Certainly, there is nothing more highly ordained of the Lord than a proper marriage.
" We are sowing, daily sowing, Countless seeds of good and ill, . . ."1 There are few of us who pass through life without affecting - for good or bad - the lives of others, and there is a need for us to be aware of this powerful influence.
As we look toward the New Year, we could easily become overwhelmed at the challenges that lie ahead. If we are not careful, over concern with the future could cheat us out of the pleasures and joys of today. And today is the most valuable time we have. It is said in Sanskrit to "Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life."1
"He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never held an office. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
More than any other season of the year, Christmas is a time for remembering friends, of kindness and generosity to all, a time when man literally lets the light of Christ shine forth; when love waxes strong among mankind.
One of the important lessons we learn in life is that we don't always get what we want when we want it - that disappointment is a normal experience in our learning process.
Nothing in life is quite so fleeting as the present moment. It quicky passes to become forever a memory. Thomas Aldrich wrote: “All the best sands of my life are somehow getting into the wrong end of the hourglass.”1 Indeed life does pass more quickly than we think, and suddenly we’re older.
As we pause this Thanksgiving Season to reflect on the blessings of life, let us also pause to consider the way in which we show our appreciation. True thankfulness is expressed not only in what we say, but also in what we do. Gratitude is essential but it will have far greater meaning when it is coupled with action.
“One thing is forever good;” said Emmerson, and “That one thing is Success.”1 There is a great exhilaration which comes to one through honest, well-earned achievement. To plan well, work hard and persist to the end brings one of life’s sweetest rewards: the feeling of accomplishment.
There are many rewards I life worth planning and working for – education, careers, marriage, a family, and retirement, to name only a few. Nearly everyone plans for the future and that is a good and necessary part of life. But as in most things, moderation is important – an excess can be dangerous.
Moments of discouragement come to everyone. They are a part of life. And although not always desired, they are certainly to be expected. Emerson Fosdick said, "One who expects completely to escape low moods is asking the impossible."1 And so our challenge is not to live a life free of discouragement, but to know we can overcome it.
There is a quote from Seneca which says, "Most powerful is he who has himself in his power."1 Indeed, self-control is one of our greatest challenges and the gateway to our greatest opportunities. "Man has two creators," said William George Jordan, "his god and himself. His first creator furnishes him the raw material of his life ... [but] it is what man makes of himself that counts."2
A great American pioneer once said, "We shall never see the time when we shall not need to be taught."1 Learning and growing is a basic part of life, and to progress is the very reason for our existence here upon earth. But with our learning we must also obtain understanding. As Solomon was counseled by his father, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom and with all they getting get understanding.”2
We recently spoke of the need to be forgiving. The best place to practice and develop that principle is in our homes as we conduct our daily family affairs.
“To err is human,” wrote Alexender Pope; “to forgive divine.”1