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Apple Seeds

  Volume 18, # 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2003

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Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!

Inspiration Motivation quotations Apple Seeds January 2003


January . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complete Speaker’s Almanac (adapted)

    "The month of January is named after the ancient Roman god, Janus. He is depicted as having two faces. One face looks backward into the past; the other looks forward into the future.
    Janus is an appropriate personification of the start of the new year. As we move out of an old year and look toward a new one we can try to be a little like Janus.
    Through remembering we know what we did wrong in the past year and what we did right, and as we look to the new year we have hope that we can do better this year."


Five Simple Rules to Be Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

"Five simple rules to be happy:
     1. Free your heart from hatred.
     2. Free your mind from worries.
     3. Live simply.
     4. Give more.
     5. Expect less."

New Year Blessing


Up Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Arthur Ward

"Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation."


Post-Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CONNECTIONS, Jan.1, ‘95

Feast of the Epiphany

    "Long after the angels disappear into the heavens, the shepherds return to their flocks, the magi journey home and the great star sets, Jesus remains. The Child in whom we rediscover God’s great love for humanity becomes the adult Redeemer who challenges us to imitate his selflessness and compassion in order that we might transform our world in love…May we allow the miracle of Christmas to continue long after the holiday trappings have been packed away; may we welcome the adult Messiah and his challenging Gospel to recreate our lives, making the peace, justice and hope of this holy season a reality in every season of the new year."

For the Rest of my Life… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Og Mandino, The Return of the Ragpicker, p. 136

    "For the rest of my life there are two days that will never again trouble me. The first day is yesterday with all its blunders and tears, its follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed forever beyond my control.
    The other day is tomorrow with its pitfalls and threats, its dangers and mystery. Until the sun rises again, I have no stake in tomorrow, for it is still unborn.
    With God’s help and only one day to concentrate all my effort and energy on, this day, I can win! Only when I add the burden of those two frightening eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, am I in danger of faltering under the load. Never again! This is my day! This is my only day! Today is all there is! Today is the rest of my life…"


The Good Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mortimer Adler

    "The good leader must have ethos, pathos, and logos. The ethos is his moral character, the source of one’s ability to persuade. The pathos is the ability to touch feelings, to move people emotionally. The logos is the ability to give solid reasons for an action, to move people intellectually."


Antidotes for Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, p. 118

    "We can master fear through one of the supreme virtues…courage…
    Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear. Unlike anxiety, fear has a definite object which may be faced, analyzed, attacked, and, if need be, endured. How often the object of our fear is fear itself."


Develop Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PERSONAL SELLING POWER, Vol. 12, # 8, p. 40

    "Develop Courage. Courage is defined: ‘mental or moral strength; to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty; to resist opposition or hardship; firmness of the mind and will, in the face of danger or extreme difficulty.’ The world and everyone around you need to see courage in action."


Praxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Freya Stark

"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."


Teamwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

    "Teamwork—is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."


Greater Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eileen Caddy, A Dancing Star

    "When one door closes another opens. Expect that new door to reveal even greater wonders and glories and surprises. Feel yourself grow with every experience. And look for the reason for it."


Blessed Are They… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth, Princess Bibesco

"Blessed are they who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting."


Science & Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pope John Paul II

    "Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish…Such bridging ministries must be nurtured and encouraged."


Career Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Kingsley

"Get your tools ready. God will find you work."

I resolve


Let Silence Abide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Catherine of Siena, CATHOLIC DIGEST, p. 78

    "When it seems that God shows you the faults of others, keep on the safe side—it may be that your judgment is false. On your lips let silence abide. If the vice really exists in a person, they will correct themselves better, seeing themselves so gently understood, and will say of their own accord the things you would have said to them."


Life is an Empty Bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sower’s Seeds Aplenty, # 41

    Earlier this century, a woman went to her doctor with a catalogue of complaints about her health. The physician examined her thoroughly and became convinced that there was nothing physically wrong with her. He suspected it was her negative outlook on life—her bitterness and resentment—that was the key to her feeling the way she did.
    The wise physician took the woman into a back room in his office where he kept some of his medicine. He showed her a shelf filled with empty bottles. He said to her: "See those bottles. Notice that they are all empty. They are shaped differently from one an-other, but basically they are all alike. Most importantly, they have nothing in them. Now, I can take one of these bottles and fill it with poison—enough poison to kill a human being. Or I can fill it with enough medicine to bring down a fever, or ease a throbbing headache or fight bacteria in one part of the body. The important thing is that I make the choice. I can fill it with whatever I choose."
    The doctor looked her in the eye and said, "Each day that we are given is basically like one of these empty bottles. We can choose to fill it with love and life-affirming thoughts and attitudes, or we can fill it with destructive, poisonous thoughts. The choice is ours."
    And what will you choose? Life-affirming, positive, healing thoughts? Or, the seething poisons of anger, bitterness and prejudice? The choice is yours!


A Larger World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connections, 3/13/94

    In John Drinkwater’s play Abraham Lincoln, a Northern woman, an anti-Southern zealot, is ecstatic to hear news of the latest victory of Union forces over the Confederacy.
    "They lost 2700 men and, we lost only 800. How splendid!" she gushes.
    Lincoln, however, is stunned and shakened: "Thirty-five hundred human lives lost…"
    "Oh, you must not talk like that, Mr. President," the woman contends. "There were only 800 that mattered."
    Lincoln’s shoulders droop, his tear-rimmed eyes flash, as he says with measured emphasis, "Madam, the world is larger than your heart."

Pray for peace

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