"Father, strengthen me by your Holy Spirit, to carry out my mission of changing the world, or some definite part of it, for the better.

     Make me more energetic in setting to right what I find wrong with the world instead of complaining about it or myself. Never let me forget that it is far better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Amen."

No-Nonsense Management . . . . . Richard Sloma

     "Strong initial control will assert your management prerogatives, and you will be respected for it. Subsequent loosening will be interpreted as a gesture of faith in and respect for your subordinates. Further, your subordinates will endorse your tempering adjustments because you will have demonstrated wisdom and understanding — and excellent insight."

     "People we admire most, role models we like to emulate, have mastered a unique mental-digestion system:

1. Extensive participation in risk-taking life experiences, in spite of fear or apprehension.

2. Intermittent planned as well as spontaneous episodes of deep reflection and contemplation of such past experiences."

Check to be Sure . . . . . Soundings, May `86

     "What’s the difference between a run-of-the-mill manager and an excellent one? Sometimes it may be no more than a matter of thoroughness.

     Excellent supervisors take nothing for granted. They check up regularly to be sure things are being handled. They don’t assume that people know how things should be done. They check to be sure.…"

Your Destiny . . . . . Dr. Albert Schweitzer

     "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have understood how to serve."

Words of Wisdom . . . . . Anonymous

"It is far better to be a has-been
than one who never was."

"When it comes to loving our neighbor,
some people stop at nothing."

"Some people spend so much attention to their reputation
that they lose their character."

On Marriage . . . . . Dr. Karl Menninger

     "Our relationships in marriage depend so much upon our maturity. How effectively can we change and grow up from preferring to get, to preferring to give? How much can we mature from loving ourselves, to giving love to someone else?"

Your Influence . . . . . Eleanor Roosevelt

     "Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision for yourself because you can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your own child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life and what you become yourself."

     "Ours is a time when meaning is under attack, when our shared values are few, when our sense of purpose is at best blurred. What results have been vividly demonstrated in the highly individualized approaches to what may appear to be altruistic decisions and life-styles … The leader is challenged to re-establish the ‘center,’ to provide a sure ground to stand on, to help us break out of and beyond our own limited, even if enlightened, self-interest."

"Expose the two impostors, change and risk,
for what they really are, growth and challenge."

     "Prayer is born in us. It leaps to life in experiences which draw us out of ourselves — the deep still of night, the quiet light of dawn, a child smiling, … All of these can make us draw a breath, pause quietly and sense the presence of One who puts it all together.

     At those moments, inner noise becomes part of a great harmony. Prayer is born."

     "Real Christian peacemakers do not simply, placidly accept a conflict situation. They see it as an opportunity to grow — to learn more about themselves and their neighbor and to strengthen the relationship. They take the risk of expressing their views and values, and exploring those of their neighbor, in order to come to a creative resolution of their differences. If we truly love our enemies … then we give them a chance to be understood, affirmed and to work for a better relationship."

God’s Blessings . . . . . Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

     "God’s blessings flow continuously, but unless we make ourselves into a vessel for them, they will flow elsewhere. Prayer is the act of turning ourselves into a vehicle for the Divine. Prayer changes the world because it changes us."

     Suffering from terminal spinal cancer at the age of 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano … looked back on his life and told a story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team. "Why is winning so important to you?" the players asked Valvano.

     "Because the final score defines you," Jimmy V said, "You lose, ergo you’re a loser. You win, ergo you’re a winner."

     "No," the players insisted. "Participation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose — that’s what defines you."

     It took 24 more years of living. It took the coach bolting up from the mattress three or four times a night with his T-shirt soaked with sweat and his teeth rattling from the fever and chills of chemotherapy and the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in his dreams. It took all that from him. "Those kids were right. It’s the effort, not the result. It’s trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I’d had this awareness back then."

     In his last year battling the debilitating effects of his cancer, Jimmy V’s idea of a winner was simply, "Don’t give up! Don’t ever give up!" Forever, Jimmy V will always remembered as a winner.