Wednesday Words on Ambition and Encouragement

"Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you, too, can become great." 

Mark Twain

Thanks to everyone who makes me believe that I can be great, and to God for putting all of you in my life.

Wednesday Words On...Well, You Figure Out The Theme

I love all three of these quotes, and for me they link together in a common theme. I hope they'll mean something to you today.

"Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them."

Russell H. Conwell

"To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition."

Samuel Johnson

"Bloom where you're planted."

Mary Engelbreit

Wednesday Words on Endings

I have to thank Sandra E. Martin for tweeting out this quote last weekend (since I haven't read the book or seen the movie myself). As soon as I read it, I loved it:

"Everything will be alright in the end. And if it's not alright - it's not the end." #BestExoticMarigoldHotel
— Sandra E. Martin (@SandraEMartin) June 22, 2013

Wednesday Words About Control

"Happiness and freedom begin with a clear

understanding of one principle: Some things are

within your control, and some things are not."

Epictetus, 1st century Greek philosopher

Wednesday Words - Thanks To My New Year's Resolution

While I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, I did set a few goals for myself for 2013, and one of them was to read the bible. Cover to cover. Seriously. While I've never been a huge bible reader at home, I use it constantly with my class. One of my favourite teaching resources ever is my "Bible Story Puzzles" book, full of worksheets that correspond with different scripture references. It's a fantastic way to expose kids to Bible stories and give them something to "do" with them. Very helpful this year with a split grade too.



Anyway, back to my resolution. January had barely begun and I was digging into Genesis...and made my way through...but I have to say that the Old Testament just doesn't provide me as much inspiration as the New Testament. The genealogy alone is mind-boggling!

I decided to skip ahead and read the Gospels next (it's not like I don't already know how the story ends) and I've been much more motivated. By Chapter 5 of the first Gospel, Jesus is already trying to undo several of the misconceptions from the Old Testament: "You have heard it was said to your ancestors ____________, but I say to you __________________" (repeated with several different examples). So I think I'm going to stick with what Jesus said.

Some of my favourite tidbits from the Gospel of Matthew:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father...when you give alms, do not let the left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (6: 1-4) This one is actually the Gospel for the Ash Wednesday Mass my class is preparing.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroys, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." (6: 19-21)

"Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself." (6:34)

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." (7: 13-14)

"Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few'" (9:37)

"I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account of every careless word they speak. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." (12:36-37)

and the beautiful end of Matthew's Gospel:

"Then Jesus approached and said to them 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (28:18-20)

Wednesday Words on Giving

"Give and it will be given to you. A good measure...will be poured into your lap."


Luke 6:38

No, you might not get back as many Halloween goodies as you give out, but there's definite merit to those Gospel words. What I often need to remind myself of is that you aren't always going to receive from the same person to whom you gave. Give your time, give your money, give your talent, give your love...whatever you can afford, put it out there. And you will receive.

Wednesday Words: What Will You Be?

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."


George Eliot

Wednesday Words

As my students begin writing EQAO today (provincial standardized testing; one of the most anxious times of the year for me) I was looking for some spiritual inspiration.

Although I don't know exactly how these words apply to today's situation (unless the Lord is arriving with the calculators and dictionaries) it's still one of my favourite quotations from scripture:

"Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord."

Psalm 27: 14

What does that mean to you today?

Wednesday Words

"Is it coincidence that we spend far more than our parents ever did on the restyling and improvement of our homes - homes in which we spend less and less time because we are out earning the money to pay for French chrome mixer taps and stripped oak floors? It's as though home had become some kind of stage set for a play in which we one day hope to star."

from "I Don't Know How She Does It" by Allison Pearson


I had never even heard of this bestseller until I first saw trailers for the (scathingly-reviewed, SJP-starring) movie. When a friend loaned me the book, I expected a chick-lit equivalent of the chick-flick previews I had seen, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's actually heavier and more thought-provoking than I ever would have imagined as it churns up all of the mixed feelings about motherhood, marriage and work.

The film comes out on DVD on January 3rd.

Wednesday Words on Receiving

As Christmas approaches, we make it a priority to talk to our children (and students) about the importance of giving. On the flip side, here is an interesting thought about receiving:

"Receiving is often harder than giving. Giving is very important: giving insight, giving hope, giving courage, giving advice, giving support, giving money, and most of all giving ourselves. Without giving there is no brotherhood or sisterhood.

But receiving is just as important, because by receiving we reveal to givers that they have gifts to offer. When we say, 'Thank you, you gave me hope; thank you, you gave me a reason to live; thank you, you allow me to realize my dream,' we make givers aware of their unique and precious gifts. Sometimes it is only in the eyes of the receivers that givers discover their gifts."

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Wednesday Words on Miracles

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."


Albert Einstein

Wednesday Words on Balance

Judging from the responses I received from my recent article on Work/Life Balance, this issue stuck a chord with many. For all you fellow jugglers, I offer these words, which may give you a slightly different perspective today:


"My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light."

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Wednesday Words

"Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Galatians 6:9

 

Wednesday Words For Women

Sometimes I quote scripture, sometimes famous philosophers...but today's gems are just for fun!

There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure,

but I don't know many of them.

Sylvia Plath

Genius is of small use to a woman

who does not know how to do her hair.

Edith Wharton

Wednesday Words from "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

I've read some great books lately ("Water For Elephants": book club selection, incredible, couldn't put it down) as well as some good books ("From This Moment On" by Shania Twain: sad, from her upbringing to her split, but still inspiring) yet I've chosen a relatively old (2008) title to share with you today.

I'm sure you've heard of "The Last Lecture": facing a diagnosis of terminal cancer, computer science professor, husband and father Randy Pausch gave his "last lecture", full of the final thoughts he wanted to impart onto the world. The lecture become a phenomenon (it even made Oprah!) and a best-selling book followed. Here, I steal one of my favourite sections to share with you.

The Friday Night Solution

     I got tenure a year earlier than people usually do. That seemed to impress other junior faculty members.
     "Wow, you got tenure early," they'd say to me. "What was your secret?"
     I said, "It's pretty simple. Call me any Friday night in my office at ten o'clock and I'll tell you." (Of course, this was before I had a family.)
     A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.
     As I see it, if you work more hours than somebody else, during those hours you learn more about your craft. That can make you more efficient, more able, even happier. Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster.
     The same is true in your life outside of your job. All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it."

Randy lost his battle against pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008. Visit the website at http://www.thelastlecture.com/.

Wednesday Words from Michael J. Fox

From the June 2011 issue of Today's Parent magazine:

"Always be available to your kids. Because if you say, 'Give me five minutes, give me 10 minutes,' it'll be 15, it'll be 20. And then when you get there, the shine will have worn off whatever it is they wanted to share with you. I've never gotten up to see something one of my kids wanted to show me and not been rewarded."

Michael J. Fox

Wednesday Words

This week's "Wednesday Words" come from my book club's latest selection: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

The first words that struck me were actually on the book jacket: 

"We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice. Two years later, they meet again. The story starts there. Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how it unfolds."

Tell me that doesn't hook you!

By page nine, I had already found a passage that I knew I had to share:

"...I ask you right here to please agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty, okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived."

As of writing this post, I'm only a third of the way into the book, but unless it goes downhill fast, I'd suggest you add it to your must-read list.

Wednesday Words

Today's edition of Wednesday Words comes to you from my book club's latest selection, "Annabel" by Kathleen Winter:

"A child's worry was not like an adult's. It gnawed deep, and was so unnecessary. Why did people not realize children could withstand the truth? Why did adults insist on filling children with the deceptions their own parents had laid on them, when surely they remembered how it had felt to lie in bed and cry over fears no one had bothered to help you face?"

Perhaps this might mean something to you today.