Minute Meditations

The Apostle Paul tells us, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). The virtue of doing good to others is a divine principle that is recognised worldwide, even by those who may not understand other biblical truths. For example, the Dalai Lama said, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them”. Mahatma Gandhi taught, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. Many Christians and non-Christians would agree with Martin Luther King Jr’s conclusion, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant”. This double talk saying is seen in many offices and usually produces a smile since it is true that what we think we said and what people think about what we said are…

There is a story about a small-town business owner whose clothing store was threatened with extinction. A national chain store had acquired all the properties on his block and had told him, “We’ll build all around you and put you out of business”.

“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it” — Abraham Lincoln.

There is never a traffic jam on the extra mile. Jesus plainly told us that whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it.

Here is a new twist on an old saying: “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly—until you can learn to do it well”. 

Far too many of us will not try to do the difficult until we feel that we can do it well, and we will never do it well until we first start by doing it poorly. Imagine telling a swimming instructor that we refuse to get into the pool until we can swim properly. Unless we jump in and splash around and put our head under the water and try to swim, poorly, we cannot ever swim well.

Randolph Hearst, the multimillionaire newspaperman, was a great collector of art. One day Mr Hearst found a description of some valuable items he wanted to own. He ordered his art agent to go abroad to find them. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally traced down these valuable pieces of ancient art. They were in Mr Hearst’s warehouse. Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned. Had he read his own catalogue, he would have discovered he already had that for which he was looking.

Satchel Paige, the baseball philosopher is credited with the saying, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was”. There are some fairly young people who would give an age much beyond their actual years and there are some elderly people who would say that they were in their mid-twenties.