LEARNING...

WISDOM NUGGET: Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

                                                                                                                                 - Albert Einstein

Source: Photopin

Its alarming to find that some folks still think that learning is a luxury for a few individuals, or that it should be done during our early (formative) years.
Learning should be looked at as something well beyond formal schooling; it encompasses our entire life cycle. Learning allows us to stay relevant in life and to be ahead of the game. If you don't render yourself obsolete someone else will; like your employer.

Learning is the price innovators will gladly pay for staying ahead of everyone else. In order for you to create the new results you want in your life, learning is a path you must be willing to take. It provides opportunities to continually expand your capacity. The world is always changing around us. Plus there's nothing anyone of us can do to impede the changes that happen technologically in our environment, but we can make our selves relevant and invaluable in every stage of these advancements by constantly and continuously giving ourselves to LEARNING.

Take the birth of the automobile for instance; what did the first automobile look like? With that picture in mind, compare it to the automobiles today, you'll agree that the difference is almost irreconcilable. Automobiles today are a direct result of human beings gaining a deeper understanding of how to make cars function and look better.

What new skill will allow you to move forward from where you are now to where you want to go? Don't hold back; go and get it. When you change your thoughts you change your results.
This is how John Locke put it, "the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thought."

AN ANCIENT SECRET FOR MODERN (WO)MEN

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.

                                                                                                                                - Dennis Prager

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Many years ago a lad of 16 was obliged to leave home because his father was too poor to support him any longer. So he trudged away with all worldly possessions in a bundle dangling from his hand, resolving as he journeyed to set up in business as a soap maker in New York.

When the country boy arrived in the big city, he found it hard to get work. Remembering the last words of his mother and also the godly advice given him by the captain of a canal boat, the youth dedicated his life to God, determining to return to his Maker an honest tithe of every dollar he earned.
So, when his first dollar came in, the young man sacredly dedicated ten cents of it to God. This he continued to do. And the dollars rolled in! Soon this young man became partner in a soap business; and when his partner died a few years later, he became sole owner of the concern.

The prosperous businessman now instructed his bookkeeper to open an account with the Lord and to credit to it one tenth of all his income. The business grew miraculously. The honest proprietor now dedicated two-tenths of his earnings; and then three-tenths, four-tenths; and finally, five-tenths. It seemed as if his sales increased in exact proportion to his generosity, so that soon his brand of soap became a household word throughout the world.

The late William Colgate was this man who was so prospered in return for his faithfulness.

Things to Learn About Generousity

Wisdom Nuggets: Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

                                                                                                                          - Og Mandino 

Source: Photopin

 

People who don't like to give must realise that they are being controlled by their wealth. What they own possesses them; they do not possess the things they own.

 People filed into church one Pentecost Sunday and collected the bright red carnation the ushers were sharing. The people listened attentively to the reading of the Pentecost story from the Book of Acts about how the disciples had heard “what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven”; about how the Holy Spirit had appeared “like tongues of fire.” Then came the sermon: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,” the preacher began. “Like the powerful wind from heaven!” shouted a woman sitting in the first pew. Then she threw one of the red carnations toward the altar. The preacher began again: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.” The same woman’s voce rang out again, “Like the tongues of fire, the tongues of fire!” Again, she threw a red carnation toward the altar. The preacher looked straight at her and said, “Now throw your pocketbook.” To which the woman replied, “Preacher, you have just calmed the wind and put out the fire.”

We may laugh at such stories, but it should be taken seriously.

 

RECIPROCATING KIND GESTURES

Wisdom Nugget: Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

                                                                                                                      - Mark Twain

Source: Photopin

Often we think of reciprocating in terms of repaying our benefactor. Perhaps recalling an occasion in the life of D. L. Moody will give us a different perspective.

Once, when Mr. Moody was in New York, he was helped tremendously by R. K. Remington. As he was leaving on the train, Mr. Moody grasped his friend by the hand and said, "If you ever come to Chicago, call on me and I will try to return your kindness." Mr. Remington replied, "Don't wait for me; do it to the first man that comes along."

However this blessing does not just apply to the law of reciprocity but to the very basic philosophy of showing kindness to others generally.

In Edwin Markham's lovely poem, "The Shoes of Happiness," Conrad, the old cobbler, dreamed one night that the Master would come to be his guest. When the dawn was yet young, he arose and decorated his little shop with bright and gay flowers and waited. When the Master would come, he would wash the feet where the spikes had been and would kiss the hands that the nails had punctured.
But the Master did not come. A beggar came, and Conrad gave him a pair of shoes. An old woman came bent from the weight of a heavy burden. He lifted the load off her back and refreshed her with food. And finally, just before the day was about to fade away into darkness, a little child came. Her eyes were wet with tears, and in pity Conrad led her back to her mother. But the divine guest never came:
Then soft in the silence a voice he heard
"Lift up your heart, for I kept My word.
Three times I came to your friendly door;
Three times my shadow was on your floor.
I was the beggar with bruised feet,
I was the woman you gave to eat,
I was the child in the homeless street."

Alexander the Great and the Beggar

Wisdom Nuggets: To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.

                                                                                                                             - Confucius

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Your approach to giving doesn’t just show reverence to the receiver but also mirrors your values as a giver.

 No other illustrations paints a clearer picture of this than the story told of a roadside beggar who asked alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his level of giving and commented, "Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold?" Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Cooper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving."

 Giving is not dependent on the nature or level of the receiver but should mirror the nature of the giver. It is my pleasure to announce to you that you are royalty. Therefore, always give like the royalty that you are. Let your value system and true nature be reflected in your giving today.

 

How To Invest

Wisdom Nugget: "...self sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive."

Source: Photopin

 

 

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

 

People are more afraid of losing when they invest. They ask, what if it does not produce a profitable return on investment?  Imagine what you would invest if you were guaranteed a 100% return on investment? Well let me introduce you to such an opportunity.

During the summer, a clergyman went to see a florists fine collection of roses:—there were white roses, red roses, yellow roses, climbing roses, and roses in pots, the colourful giant of battles and the modest moss rose—every species he had ever heard of, were there in rich profusion. The lady began plucking, right and left. Some bushes with but a single flower she plundered. The clergyman remonstrated. "You are robbing yourself, dear madam." "Oh, no! Do you not know that the way to make a rosebush abundantly produce healthy roses is to pluck its flowers freely? I lose nothing by what I give away," she explained.

We never lose anything by what we give away. Here is an investment that always guarantees a return.

 

Visit a friend later in the day. Spend time with your family. Always find opportunities to give. Give generously and freely, it is sure to produce a harvest of returns.

 

As a sage said, “self sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive”

Giving Opens Hearts

WISDOM NUGGET: Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people!

 

Source: Photopin

“People don’t want to know how much you know, until they know how much you care,”

                                                                                                   - John C. Maxwell

 

 One of the most effective ways of winning people over is through giving. Giving has the power to melt hearts, encourage the embittered and battered. Giving can encourage people who wouldn't even be patient enough to hear a sermon.

A man bought a field next to a farmer who had been engaged in a long-standing dispute with the former owner about the exact boundary line between this field and his own property. When the new owner saw the farmer near the fence one day, he greeted him with the words, "I'm your new neighbour; and I would like to talk to you about the boundary line between our properties." The farmer assumed a belligerent attitude and said, "What about it?" "How much of this field do you claim as belonging to you?" asked the new owner. "I claim that your fence is a good two feet over on my property," replied the farmer. "Well, then, I want you to reset the fence four feet back on my side," replied the new owner. This completely took the fight out of the farmer and was the beginning of a new spirit of concession on his part also. A week letter both men had become such good friends and the Christian began to share his philosophies with his new neighbour.

Let your giving go before you. It has the ability of opening doors and making hearts receptive. Carson McCullers said “The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.” Giving is the most powerful expression of care.

The Fourth Rule Of Giving

Wisdom Nugget: "He who observes the wind and waits for all conditions to be favourable will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap."

Source: Photo Pin

"The smallest gift is greater that the greatest intention."

A church member was expecting $300,000 in a will from a family member. The member said to the pastor, "If I get the $300,000 I will give one-third to the church." The pastor said, "How will you give one-third of this amount when you can't give one-tenth of what you now earn?"

It's not what we would do if we had much money—it's what we are doing with what we have now!

The fourth Rule of Giving is "Eliminate all excuses !" Our nugget below captures it succinctly:
"He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.

When it comes to doing the right thing, have you noticed how your mind is bombarded with a million and one excuses why you shouldn't? You hear things like: have you paid your bills? what if have an emergency & may need the money? What if you loose your job etc ? Truth is the weather will never be perfect for you to do what is right. Excuses are tools of the incompetent, monuments of nothingness and those who use them are not wise.

A minister was talking to a man who professed conversion. "Have you united with a church?" he asked him. "No, the dying thief never united with a church and he went to heaven," was the answer. "Have you ever sat at the Lord's table?" "No, the dying thief never did and he was accepted." "Have you been baptized?" "No, the dying thief was never baptized and he went to heaven." "Have you given to missions?" "No, the dying thief did not, and he was not judged for it." "Well, my friend, the difference between you two seems to be that he was a dying thief and you are a living thief."