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hello my friends, this is from our friend mel,enjoy ,kathy
Wednesday March 22, 2006
MOTIVATION
INSPIRATION FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Success is having character. "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it." "Character is like a tree and reputation like it's shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."
Success is knowing how to accept criticism and knowing enough not to criticize. "If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference." "I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot."
Success is consistently doing one's best every day. "I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day."
Success is realizing the true significance of failure. "My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
Success is understanding the secret to happiness. "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Success is understanding the power of listening. "When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say."
Success is knowing how to influence others. "When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one."
Success is knowing the futility of procrastination. "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
Success is not showing envy toward another's wealth. "Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."
HUMOR
COLLECT CALL
My mother was away all weekend at a business conference.
During a break, she decided to call home collect. My six-year-old brother picked up the phone and heard a stranger's voice say, "We have a Betty on the line. Will you accept the charges?"
Frantic, he dropped the receiver and came charging outside screaming, "Dad! They've got Mom! And they want money!"
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EXERCISE PLAN
As part of our EAPD goals this next year, I came across this exercise to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders. It seems so easy that I am directing you to include it as part of your EAPD goals for next year.
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax. Each day, you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb. potato sacks, then 50-lb. potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.
After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks; but be careful!
SCRIPTURE
2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-10
8. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;
9. indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
10. who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,
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"DEAD-END" SITUATIONS
Paul was in one of those "dead-end" situations when he wrote: "We had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (2 Co 1:9). "The sentence of death." That's pretty dramatic language!
The word "sentence" is from the Greek word krino. It could be interpreted, "the evidence is presented, the judge has ruled and the verdict is final." It looked like there was no way for Paul to survive; he was in a dead-end situation. Is that where you are today? If so, don't give up. What looked like the end of the road was in reality the beginning of a fresh supernatural flow of divine power and favor into Paul's life. That's why he went on to say that through it all he learned not to trust in himself, but in God Who "raises the dead." Think: when your hopes seem buried and you've nowhere to turn, isn't that when God's power begins to operate in your life to the greatest measure?
As long as you've got a loving Heavenly Father you can call on, a word from the Lord you can stand on, and faith to activate His promise, you've got reason to rejoice. You have a future! So call on your Heavenly Father today and do it in faith, not doubt. Expect Him to release His power on your behalf, and then watch Him begin to turn your dead-end situation around. Why? Because now you're beginning to trust the One Who can really do something about it!
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