“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” – Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Inspirational thoughts
Confidence in God
“When we place our dependence in God, we are unencumbered, and we have no worry. In fact, we may even be reckless, insofar as our part in the production is concerned. This confidence, this sureness of action, is both contagious and an aid to the perfect action. The rest is in the hands of God – and this is the same God, gentlemen, who has won all His battles up to now.” Vince Lombardi
Preach and defend the truth…with charity
“We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.”
Saint John Chrysostom
Forgiveness
“He who knows how to forgive prepares for himself many graces from God. As often as I look upon the cross, so often will I forgive with all my heart.”
-St Faustina, St. Faustina’s diary
Understanding others?
“Don’t criticize what you can’t understand.” Bob Dylan
Creation’s beauty
“The aesthetic value of creation cannot be overlooked. Our very contact with nature has a deep restorative power; contemplation of its magnificence imparts peace and serenity. The Bible speaks again and again of the goodness and beauty of creation, which is called to glorify God.” St. John Paul II
Raising kids…
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” Amish proverb
Immaculate Conception
“Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sm 16:7). And Mary’s heart was fully disposed to the fulfilment of the divine will. This is why the Blessed Virgin is the model of Christian expectation and hope… In her heart there is no shade of selfishiness: she desires nothing for herself except God’s glory and human salvation. For her, the very privilege of being preserved from original sin is not a reason to boast, but one for total service to her Son’s redemptive mission.” St. John Paul II
Honesty
“The important thing is to stop lying to yourself. A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself as well as others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love and, in order to divert himself, having no love in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal, satisfying his vices. And it all comes from lying – lying to others and to yourself.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Brothers Karamazov”
Doing your part…
“God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails.” St. Augustine