Monthly Archives: July 2014
The Difference Prayer Makes
While sitting on my deck early this morning and feeling overwhelmed, this prayer said out loud helped me breathe evenly again. Prayer is the one daily ritual I practice that keeps me above my circumstances
The Difference–by Grace L Naessens
” 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.
He 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.
He said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence;
I used all my keys in 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.”
– Grace L. Naessens
The Ten Commandments of Mentoring
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF MENTORING by John C. Crosby
(1) Thou shalt not play God.
(2) Thou shalt not play Teacher.
(3) Thou shalt not play Mother or Father.
(4) Thou shalt not lie with your body.
(5) Active listening is the holy time and thou shalt practice it every session.
(6) Thou shalt not be judgmental.
(7) Thou shalt not lose heart because of repeated disappointments.
(8) Thou shalt practice empathy, not sympathy.
(9) Thou shalt not believe that thou can move mountains.
(10) Thou shalt not envy thy neighbor’s protégé, nor thy neighbor’s success.
Give the World Your Best Anyway
A few years ago, I came across the poem you will read below. For a long time I thought the poem was written by Mother Teresa. Apparently Mother Teresa had this poem on the wall of her Missionaries of Charity community center. However, I discovered that Mother Teresa had never actually written these but they were written by Kent M. Keith who was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard. He had written the Paradoxical Commandments as part of a booklet for student leaders. He describes the Commandments as guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity
1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.*
After one reads this poem it really has a way of detoxifying bad attitudes that may emerge in our lives as we come up against difficult people and situations.
It also helps counter the world’s view of the Golden Rule which sometimes seems to be ‘do it to others before they do it to you’ rather than ‘do it to others as you would want them to do it for you.’
So, let’s go out the world and give them the world the best you have anyway.
Luciano Del Monte 