Words To Remember

Over the years, a number of people have commented on the last lines of some of my columns. Many of them are summarized in an article I once wrote, but I’ve listed links below to the original sources herein of those as well as to a number of others not in that article:

Like cats, dreams may slumber all day, then arise in the evening… ready to roam.

If I expect to be in the mulligrubs, burdened down with cares, I’ll not likely be disappointed. But if I expect miracles to happen, I’ll wake up looking for them. I may just find that all things are changed for the better.

Today is my only opportunity to write my history the way I would want it to be.

But failure is not really failure when we see God shaping splendor from the clay of adversity.

Memories are the threads that stitch together little scraps of forgotten years.

Thus unfolds the two-fold secret of sorrow: first, accept the comfort God would send through others, and then funnel it to those who need comforting. Sorrows aren’t for wasting on ourselves.

Sunny memories are worthy investments, deposits made in the todays of yesteryear–and paying dividends on tomorrow’s dreary days, when we need them the most.

The roaring giant of doubt is felled by the smallest certainty, a stake through the heart that keeps him down.

The fabric of simple answers seldom stretches to fit the shape of a complex world. “How” and “why” simply cover more ground than “yes” and “no.”

Summer inflicts pain only autumn can salve, puts wrinkles in life only autumn can smooth. And like a mother with her hurting child, Golden Autumn heals the soul by touch and words alone.

In the right proportions–and if I’ll permit it–the opposing forces of sun and shadow shape and fit my soul into the mold of usefulness. And God is the master of the mix.

Failure to separate responsibility from apathy opens the door for a benign difficulty to change overnight into a cancerous liability.

Efficiency and effectiveness are vastly different beasts, the former having the more vicious bite if not handled with utmost care.

The building blocks of life are laid down rough and squared up later.

You need not seek conflicts; they find you soon enough. But the whisper from the created universe is one of hope: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Listen… and feel… and learn.

Having our lives flexed by the opposing forces of joy and sorrow–even triumph and failure–builds strength and unity that come in no other way.

The spoken word, an arrow shot, will find a mark if aimed or not.

What you can’t see doesn’t diminish its reality, and what you don’t understand doesn’t negate its power.

No tears are more bitter than those shed over having failed to do what you should have and could have done–but didn’t do.

Embrace three unchangeables and succeed; shun them and flounder. They are these: limitations of time and opportunity are inescapable, restrictions others impose upon us are unavoidable, and benefits from moral restraint are undeniable.

True prayer is not so much what we say, but what God hears.

Those with the power to hurt us sometimes exercise their ability to blot the light from our lives. But the dawn may be more dramatic than the sunset–if we can hang on through the seemingly interminable midnight hours.

Time is the currency of our physical lives, a coin of inestimable worth whose two faces–advance and retreat–seem to turn up randomly. But with its value resting in the integrity of the Giver, we can spend the coin of life with joy, no matter which face we see.

Duty is what we do while waiting for deliverance to come.

There’s a corollary to the Golden Rule: If you knew for certain that what you did unto others would swiftly be done unto you, behavior modification would be instant and effective.

If you would like to leave a lasting influence, draw along side those who are struggling. Babysit. Go to the store. Run errands. Write a note. Cook a meal. It’s often easier to endure the cloudburst of crisis than the persistent drip-drip-drip of routine that slowly erodes strength and hope.

Rules indiscriminately applied don’t replace thinking; being right is no substitute for compassion.

The cares of this world and the urgency of the moment have an irresistible way of spoiling the important, which is seldom in a hurry.

The details you immerse yourself into are the brushstrokes of destiny. And if those details–your decisions, companions, aspirations, observations, meditations, activities–be good, so will be the picture of what you’re becoming.

The trophies of parenthood come when our children return to us in like kind–hour for hour, laugh for laugh, tear for tear–the costly treasure we poured into their childhoods.

Fatherhood is more of a possession to be won than a position bestowed, an honor tempered by its share of setbacks and disappointments, a crown unfit for the fainthearted or unwilling.

Starting well may grace deny; to finish well is grace applied.

Time facilitates a gradual, mysterious wonder in transforming today’s difficulty into tomorrow’s fond remembrance.

Unintended appointments are the linchpins binding ordinary days to extraordinary destinies.

The experience of Youth sometimes loses its relevance before Age figures out what it all means.

The tracks we leave in life don’t fade as quickly as good intentions gone astray. Like relics turned up by the archaeologist’s spade, our footprints may unexpectedly be unearthed, revealing where we’ve been.

Having our lives flexed by the opposing forces of joy and sorrow–even triumph and failure–builds strength and unity that come in no other way.

Forgetting from whence he has come, Age often develops a jaded cynicism that considers youthfulness a wretched condition to be avoided. And the singular cure is for Age to humble himself before Youth in order to feel again awe and wonder over new things learned, to marvel at the prospects the future holds for those who may grow old in body but not in mind.

Time does not squander the simple investments of kindness and love we make in each other, but instead pays out her dividends in a later season when we will more fully appreciate and understand them.

In this life, our words, and the persons they represent, must be captured before time snatches the pen from our hands.

Our lives are a series of snapshots framed in ordinary events–but infinitely enriched with details only God lets us see.

Imprecision and uncertainty are not the same, and my inability to know does not invalidate the surety of God’s control.

A little information in the hands of a teenage boy is a dangerous tool, and failing to achieve our dreams may be the best possible outcome.

Tying up the loose ends of a past once fraught with frailty and foible helps reconcile us to a future we may not otherwise understand.

Freedom is neither in possessions nor in their lack, but in the attitude that what God has provided as necessary is also sufficient.

Mother’s Day is not as much about how we express appreciation to our mothers, but of fond and demonstrable recollections of what mothers have done to make themselves memorable.

“Thus one by one the moments make the shape and course young lives will take–in our few days with our children.” To spend our moments wisely is the best investment we can make.

For a brief interlude, tears have quitted. But knowing neither calendar nor clock, they will knock again in the night. And when they do, may their silent but compelling sincerity gain the ear of God alone who hears and answers prayer. For by our tears, He somehow waters the tiny seeds of hope growing deep within our hearts. May that be sufficient and satisfy.

Today is the gift God has given to great and small alike, the universal currency He expects us to spend in ways that would please Him. Today must be expended in forging worthwhile memories for coming generations who will retrace the footprints of their own history.

It should be no surprise that the increasing incivility of our world finds its expression in noise. What that says about us is not good.

True value is a lot more than market price, and to find a person–or a thing–to be reliable and dependable in time of need is a precious treasure.

If you would like to leave a lasting influence, draw along side those who are struggling. Babysit. Go to the store. Run errands. Write a note. Cook a meal. It’s often easier to endure the thunderclaps of crisis than the day-by-day grind that slowly saps emotions and strength.

The heritage we leave our children will be partly determined by how we get along with those who disagree with us.

For those who want to succeed, there’s something more critical than good grades, good looks, and good times: learning the value of good, hard work.