Wisdom Vs Natural Inclinations

2013: A YEAR FOR GATHERING WISDOM

Wisdom begins in wonder. -Socrates

Wisdom is found only in truth. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself. -Tom Wilson

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom. -Walter Benjamin

Virtue vs Impurity

This is WEEK 48 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.  -Marcus Aurelius 

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.  -Plato

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.  David Starr Jordan

Truthfulness vs Deception

This is WEEK 47 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

“Let us rejoice in the truth, wherever we find its lamp burning.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

Half a truth is often a great lie. -Benjamin Franklin

We are either in the process of resisting God’s truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth. -Charles Stanley

God’s truth judges created things out of love, and Satan’s truth judges them out of envy and hatred.  -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tolerance vs Prejudice

This is WEEK 46 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!  

Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudiced; you’re taught it.  -Charles R. Swindoll

In examining the evidence of the Christian religion, it is essential to the discovery of truth that we bring to the investigation a mind freed, as far as possible, from existing prejudice, and open to conviction.  -Simon Greenleaf

If people are informed they will do the right thing. It’s when they are not informed that they become hostages to prejudice.  -Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Thriftiness vs Extravagance

This is WEEK 45 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!  

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship”–Benjamin Franklin

“Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste.” –Catherine Pulsifer

“Thrift…is more than the mere practice of saving money: it implies rather a denunciation of every form of waste, not only of money, but of time, energy, talents, and other assets of mankind.” ~ ‘World Thrift Day,’ The Times, October 26, 1938.

Sincerity vs Hypocrisy

This is WEEK 43  of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts, and you will see something quite new. You must go on trying to be sincere. Each day you put on a mask, and you must take it off little by little.  -G.I. GURDJIEFF

Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character.  -James Russell Lowell

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”  -― Bryant McGill

Sensitivity vs Callousness

This is WEEK 42  of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

The most beautiful people are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. -Unknown

The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. -Helen Keller

“The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.” – Earl Warren

Self Control vs Self Indulgence

This is WEEK 41 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

God is waiting eagerly to respond with new strength to each little act of self-control, small disciplines of prayer, feeble searching after him. And his children shall be filled if they will only hunger and thirst after what he offers.  -Richard Holloway 

Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.  ~Author Unknown

The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center.  So does a person.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Self-control means:
1. restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires
2.the ability to control one’s emotions, behavior, and desires in order to obtain some reward, or avoid some punishment

Security vs Anxiety

This is WEEK 40 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love. -Billy Graham

“Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don’t need to search any further for security.” ― Elisabeth Elliot

That the birds of worry and care fly over you head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.  ~Chinese Proverb

Do not be afraid of tomorrow; for God is already there.  ~Author Unknown

Reverence vs Disrespect

This is WEEK 39 of the Character Development Series I am doing for 2012.  So glad you stopped by!

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.  -Plato

Our story tells us of the sacredness of life, of the astonishing complexity of cells and organisms, of the vast lengths of time it took to generate their splendid diversity, of the enormous improbability that any of it happened at all. Reverence is the religious emotion elicited when we perceive the sacred. - Ursula Goodenough

Every being is an abode of God, worthy of respect and reverence. – Unknown