Proverbs and Axioms
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There is actually a road to Success in Central California. Traveling west from Porterville on highway 190, you will soon see signs indicating that you are, in fact, on the road to Success whether you knew it or not. Life can be like that. But know these things: #1 – The road to…
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Tenacity is a good thing. Sticking with a dream, vision, or goal is a virtue. Sticking with it in the face of obstacles and hardships is heroic. Ignoring one's critics when they are nitpicking our inspired visions involves resolve, courage, and integrity. The extreme of that actually comes around full circle in opposition to virtuous…
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Sharpen Up Are you taking full advantage of the opportunities that come to you with arms and legs every day? You have been gifted with associates above you and below you on charts made by human hands who have the capacity to add value to your life with every conversation and as you observe them.…
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"It seems, in fact, that, the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half." – Fyodor Dostoevsky As much as I love Dostoevsky, I am not buying that … at least not for my personal collection of life artifacts. I can see…
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I posted a version of this in 2007. As I have been listening to partisan debates, distortions, and distractions lately, it seemed appropriate to review. I find it difficult to entrust leadership to people who call each other names, paraphrase other people's beliefs into less-than-accurate sound bytes, and attack each others characters and motives. I…
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An Allegory of Folly (early 16th century) by Quentin Matsys Have you ever asked or been asked a stupid question? What constitutes stupid questions? How does the asking of them often nullify their stupidity? There is an old adage that the only stupid question is the one we do not ask. That is true sometimes, but there…
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Are you taking full advantage of the opportunities that come to you with arms and legs every day? You have been gifted with associates above you and below you on charts made by human hands who have the capacity to add value to your life with every conversation and as you observe them. Some of…
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The admonition is to be alert and take nothing and no one for granted. Live life on tiptoe in anticipation, and in awareness of what is going on over the horizon. Boasting vs Believing about Tomorrow We are to make faith declarations and dream statements as freely as we breathe, but boasting is another matter. It…
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I was a little taken back as I sat in the training session for aspiring vacuum cleaner salesmen and heard the trainer say, "I hope you are all in serious debt or financial trouble. If you are, you will be successful." I didn't like what he said at the time, but I came to understand…
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Reflecting on the relationship between planning and implementing our work and the sovereignty of God over the affairs of humanity provided a framework for my daily reading in the Proverbs. Proverbs 16 does not discourage planning; but it does make a case for holding everything with an open hand, tentatively, humbly, and with a comfortable…
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