God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.โ
– Charles Spurgeon
There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.โ Corrie ten Boom
โIf you woke up this morning and you are still here, then God still has a plan for your life.โ
– Adrian Rogers
Paul David Tripp:
“As you face the new year, remember:
– Godโs grace has no expiration date
– He is always near
– He looks on you with love
– His mercies are always new
– He delivers what you need
– He is in complete control”
“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well”. MLK Jr.
โLife is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.โ Viktor Frankl
โI believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.โ CS Lewis
โIf you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table not a longer fence.โ -Unknown Author
Anything I add beyond Jesus Christ as a requirement to be happy will develop a strangle force on you and will kill you. Give me an undivided heart Oh Lord, Tim Keller
โIt would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.โ โ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses
โMaster those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread themโฆdigest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be โmuch not many.โ
โ Charles H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students
Solvitur ambulando “it is solved by walking” https://mailchi.mp/5502a3df2a98/where-will-you-be-walking-this-week
Plan in pencil, only God writes in stone Ann Voskamp
โYou either have to get busy living, or get busy dyingโ Shawshank Redemption
It is one of the ironies of life that by the time we finally learn all the lessons we need to know about being good parents, our last child is already grown. https://robinmarkphillips.com/nine-things-wish-someone-told-parenting-teenagers/
From Bob Sagetโs wife: “My sweet husband. After much reflection this week, Iโm trying, really trying, to not think I was robbed of time. But instead to think: How lucky was I that I got to be the one to be married to THE MOST INCREDIBLE MAN ON EARTH,” https://www.instagram.com/p/CYxJu6jvtva/
โIf we do not do the running steadily in the little ways, we shall do nothing in the Crisisโ Oswald Chambers
Your sin does not define you. Gregory Boyle, Barking to the Choir
God protects me from nothing but sustains me in everything. Gregory Boyle, Barking to the Choir
The secret to shifting a fixed mindset toward a more growth-oriented one is one simple word: YET. (sign at an elementary school, found by Vickiโs friend AC )
โYouโve gotta dance like thereโs nobody watching, Love like youโll never be hurt, Sing like thereโs nobody listening, And live like itโs heaven on earth.โ –William W. Purkey
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape 100 days of sorrow –Chinese proverb
(via James Clear) Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, on the value of time: โYou can do so much in ten minutesโ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.” Source: Menโs Health (October 2017, page 41)
“Amazing social skills are a superpower.
The ability to deliver bad news in a good way is a superpower.
The ability to de-escalate a tense situation into a calm one is a superpower.
The ability to transform a lose/win situation into a win/win situation is a superpower.”
James Clear
Life Goals for cooking/grilling improvement, philosophy
You dream of being more involved and you cherish every opportunity you have to spend quality time and form memories with your children and grandchildren. The good news is thereโs an easy way to ensure your kids always want to come home for visits even if it isnโt a holiday weekend. You see, food has a very special way of bringing people closer together. I like to refer to it as the glue in relationships. In my family, my grandmother is legendary for her meatballs and growing up we would all prioritize our busy schedules for a get together because we knew grandmoms meatballs were going to be there. Itโs the same thing for my mother, who is known for her chocolate chip cookies. Imagine how easy it would be to get everyone together if you were known for your cooking? At Grill Master University we use barbecue as a tool to help our students become more deeply rooted in their communities and gain a new found sense of fulfillment. (Grill Master University Facebook post 2019 August 17)
โI have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.โ โ Jorge Luis Borges
Solvitur Ambulando, “It is solved by walking” Diogenes the Cynic
There is something scandalous about the way God takes up this contingency in our livesโall of it, even the heartbreak and sorrow, the evil and injusticeโand forges it into this singular life that is mine, that is me. It is this me, the fruit of zigs and zags, stitches and scars, who is then renewed, empowered, called. I am the only one I could be. James K. A. Smith, How to Inhabit Time, (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2022), 67. https://www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2024/10/30/rewriting-the-past-as-testimony
The Austrian philosopher and educator Ivan Illich was once asked what the best way was to change a society. Was it through gradual reform? Violent revolution? His answer was โNeither.โ The best way to change the world, Illich said, is to tell a truer and more beautiful story, โone so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next stepโฆ If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.โ https://washingtoninst.org/rewriting-our-scripts
Rest is a weapon given to us by God. The enemy hates it because he wants us to be stressed and occupied. – Elisabeth Elliot
Adult children long to hear โIโm sorryโ from their parents, Parents long to hear โThank youโ from their adult children (paraphrased from Vickiโs friend G.)
โChildren begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.โ โ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
โChrist is the head of this house, an unseen guest at every meal.โ Author Unknown
EB White quote I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.
MORGAN RICHARD OLIVIER You can remove someone from your life and still truly want what’s best for them. Just because there is a distance or detachment, it doesn’t mean that hate has to fill that space. -Morgan Richard Olivier
We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand. โ Spurgeon
Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. The cross was the proof of His love ~ that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvaryโs cross, though legions of angels might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us ~ not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process. ~ Elisabeth Elliot
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Do You Want To Fast This Lent? (In the Words of Pope Francisโฆ)
Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and have trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
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Things you can control
Via IG @mrsladybugmom
YOUR BEING
YOUR BELIEFS
YOUR ATTITUDE
YOUR THOUGHTS
YOUR PERSPECTIVE
YOUR BEING CHOICE
HOW HONEST YOU ARE
WHAT BOOKS YOU READ
HOW OFTEN YOU EXERCISE
HOW YOU TREAT VOURSELF
HOW MANY RISKS YOU TAKE
THE TYPE OF FOOD YOU EAT
HOW KIND YOU ARE TO OTHERS
HOW YOU INTERPRET SITUATIONS
HOW YOU EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS
WHETHER OR NOT YOU ASK FOR HELP
HOW MANY TIMES YOU SMILE TODAY
WHO YOU ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH
WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR SPARE TIME
HOW YOU SPEND/INVEST YOUR MONEY
HOW OFTEN YOU SAY I LOVE YOU YOU
HOW MUCH TIME YOU WASTE WORRYING
THE AMOUNT OF EFFORT YOU PUT FORTH
HOW OFTEN YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR PAST
WHETHER OR NOT YOU JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE
HOW OFTEN YOU GIVE TIME TO APPRECIATE LIFE
WHETHER OR NOT YOU TRY AGAIN AFTER A SETBACK
Love Thy Neighbor
Thy Immigrant Neighbor
Thy Black Neighbor
Thy Atheist Neighbor
Thy Muslim Neighbor
Thy Depressed Neighbor
Thy Asian Neighbor
Thy LGBTQIA Neighbor
Thy Disabled Neighbor
Thy Indigenous Neighbor
Thy Jewish Neighbor
Thy Political Neighbor
Thy Elderly Neighbor
Thy Homeless Neighbor
Thy Latino Neighbor
Thy Addicted Neighbor
Thy Millennial Neighbor
Thy____________Neighbor
Happiness is not about having everything you want, but loving what you have.โ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/well/move/102-year-old-yogi-charlotte-chopin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.s08.i5zF.iKcTSfMV9bOC&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. — CS Lewis (in Mere Christianity)
โThe gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.โ โ Timothy Keller
โThe purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.โ –Emerson
โNo man becomes rich unless he enriches others.โ — Andrew Carnegie
โThe secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.โ — Socrates
“Treating children even-handedly doesnโt always translate into treating them equally.” Ask Amy WaPo 2019 Sept
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. — Henry Ford
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. — Edmund Burke
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. –Dr. Seuss
โI wholly disapprove of what you say โ and will defend to the death your right to say it.โ Voltaire
โYou canโt go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -CS Lewis
“All things are difficult before they are easy”
–Thomas Fuller
โEverything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedomsโto choose oneโs attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose oneโs own way.โ โ Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Everything is hard before it is easy — Goethe
As far back as I can remember, my mother would have me down by the bed at night with her, praying. I can still hear her voice calling my name to God and telling him that she wanted me to follow him in whatever he called me to do. — Charles R. Swindoll
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
– Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, UMBC President (http://www.umbc.edu/studentlife/orgs/bsu/speaker.html)
When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer. — Corrie Ten Boom
โAslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” — CS Lewis
Q. What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. — Westminster Catechism
There are things you can’t reach, but you can reach out to them.– Mary Oliver
Barn’s burnt down –now I can see the moon. — Mizuta Masahide
Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, itโs learning how to dance in the rain.–Vivian Greene
Enough is as good as a feast.–Mary Poppins
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.–Martin Luther King, Jr.
If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.โ~Amy Carmichael
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”– AA Milne in Winnie the Pooh
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
— William Morris
It has been said that there are only two lasting bequests that we can leave our offspring โ one is roots, the other wings.โ Dr. John Santrock
God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.– Oswald Chambers
Give Thanks
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, For love and friends,
For everything
Thy goodness sends.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I make myself rich by making my wants few. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Lawyer and activist Vernon Jordan on the collaborative nature of life:
“You are where you are today because you stand on somebodyโs shoulders. And wherever you are heading, you cannot get there by yourself. If you stand on the shoulders of others, you have a reciprocal responsibility to live your life so that others may stand on your shoulders. Itโs the quid pro quo of life. We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give.”
Source: 2002 speech at Howard University (via James Clear)
Beach House Rules Sign found by Vicki’s friend DP:
