One of the greatest gifts anyone can make to his fellowmen is a sincere good example, for more than almost any other thing we need to see before us is a real live model of righteousness.

Sterling W. Sill
The Best of Sterling W. Sill
pp. 77

My father-in-law, a nationally known psychologist, has successfully reared a family of five. My husband and I in turn have six small children. One holiday we were visiting our in-laws, along with an army of cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, small nieces and nephews, and the home was a beehive of activity. Suddenly Rebekah, our five-year-old, came running excitedly to the table where the adults were chatting over coffee and announced that George, our three-year-old, had locked himself in the upstairs bathroom.

There was an immediate look of concern on the faces of all the adult parents. "Don't be alarmed, "my father-in-law said reassuringly. "There are two more bathrooms downstairs."

Arlene C. Crane
Reader's Digest
August 1971, pp. 140

Humor is an incredible, although often overlooked, tool at times when we feel like crying. "If you can find humor in anything," says comedian Bill Cosby, "you can survive it."

Allen Klein
The Healing Power of Humor
pp. 3

The pain in your life comes from many places. Sometimes its source is mundane--an egg drops to the floor and it breaks. Other times its source is profound--we receive a Dear John or a Dear Jane letter and our heart breaks. Whatever our hurt, there is a big difference between pain and suffering. Our pain may not cease, but humor can minimize our suffering by giving us power in what appears to be a powerless situation.

Allen Klein
The Healing Power of Humor
Prologue, pp. xxi

The quality of a person's life will be determined by the depth of his commitment to excellence, no matter what the chosen field.

Vince Lombardi
Nightingale-Conant's Insight
No. 114, pp. 18

Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return.

Stephen R. Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
pp. 80

New Life and New Hope

The coming of spring is a change we anticipate and welcome. After a cold winter, we rejoice in longer days and warmer temperatures. And as the snow begins to melt, we watch for splashes of color and for those first brave blossoms. But perhaps it’s more than good weather we’re looking forward to—it’s the abundance of new life and new hope offered in spring.

Somehow, the hope of spring can make it easier to believe in unseen realities. Yet even in spring we may grapple with discouragement, despair, or anguish of soul. Like Job of old, we may sincerely wonder, “If a man die, shall he live again?” At such times, when we need new hope, when we yearn for the nurture of charity, we might find seedlings of faith in our own souls.

Almost in an instant, the trials of life can strip away the superficial and help us discover who we really are and what we really believe. C. S. Lewis said: “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? . . . Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief.” Sometimes only in the winters of our lives can we truly appreciate and believe in the miracles of spring. Like children who run through grassy fields in search of hidden eggs, adults too can search and find new life and new hope as we turn our hearts to God.

Music & the Spoken Word
Delivered On: March 23rd 2008
Delivered By: Lloyd D. ewell