Steve Goodier Inspirations

[Rhonda]

HOW YOU'RE LIKE A PENCIL

Did you know that you are like a pencil? Here's how:

1. Like a pencil, you can correct your mistakes. You can't
change the past, but you can rectify it. And though you
can't erase history, you can erase guilt and anger with
forgiveness.
2. Like a pencil, painful sharpening can serve to make you
better. Your difficult times can actually sharpen your
skills or shape you into the person you were meant to be.
3. Like a pencil, you can do great things when you allow
yourself to be held in Someone's hand.
4. Like a pencil, you can leave your mark whenever possible.
That is what you're here for -- to leave your mark. It may
be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people you have
touched or nurtured, but you must leave something good
behind whenever you can.
5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters.
Whether it is understanding or intolerance, love or
bitterness, peace or unrest, kindness or self-centeredness,
hope or despair, courage or fear, what is on the inside
matters most.

Next time you use a pencil, pause and think about that little writing
tool. It teaches some great lessons about living.

[Rhonda]

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing
to do and always a clever thing to say. -- Will Durant

[Rhonda]

BEAUTY IS SOUL DEEP

Abraham Lincoln loved to tell stories on himself. One of his favorites concerned itself with physical appearance.

In the days when Lincoln used to be on the circuit (traveling on
horseback from one county court to another), he was once approached by a stranger who said, "Excuse me, sir, but I have an article which belongs to you."

"How is that?" Lincoln asked in astonishment.

The stranger took a jack-knife from his pocket. "This knife," he said
"was placed in my hand some years ago, with the injunction that I was to keep it until I found a man homelier-looking than I am my-self. I have carried that knife for many years. Now I pass it on to you."

Lincoln added wryly, "I've carried that knife ever since."

One of Lincoln's greatest assets was his ability to laugh at himself.
And he frequently laughed at his physical appearance. But history
does not remember him as an "ugly" individual -- in fact, often just
the opposite. His outer appearance was clothed in magnificently beautiful garments: character, honesty, humor and courage. But there are other clothes he wore equally well -- such as humility and forgiveness.

We say that beauty is skin deep. But it isn't really. It has very
little to do with the skin. True beauty is soul deep. It is a fabric
that is woven in the soul and worn in plain view.

The Bible speaks of something similar. It teaches us to clothe
ourselves with "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience." Then "over all of these put on love, which binds them in
perfect unity." Regardless of how good looking we may otherwise be,
it is these clothes that will determine our actual beauty.

This was taught to me by a woman who used to think that if she were
granted only one wish, it would be to be beautiful. She saw her wheel-chair dependent body as unsightly and, therefore, she missed her more attractive assets. But when she was finally convinced of some of her beautiful personality traits by her friends, she came to a different point of view. Today she says, "Now I know I AM beautiful. Very beautiful."

Beauty is soul deep. Learn that and you may realize that you are far
more attractive than you ever imagined!


By Steve Goodier

[Rhonda]

TIME TO REST

It has been said that the amount of sleep required by the average person is just five minutes more! Too many of us are chronically
sleep-deprived. Late to bed and early to rise. And it costs us dearly.
Dr. Dean Ornish wrote a bestselling book called STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART. It was a good book. In it he talks about how to manage stress, how diet promotes a health life and why proper stress management and good diet affects ones heart.
He should have been on top of the world. He had just turned forty. He was fit and healthy. STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART soared to the top of The New York Times bestseller list. So what was the problem?
Where was the joy and fulfillment he so desperately wanted?
He was working more than 80 hours a week, what with speaking, promoting his book and working, and he was exhausted. A wake-up call came in a conversation with a flight attendant. Ornish had just barely made it in time for his flight and he collapsed into his seat.
A flight attendant noticed his frazzled state. She remarked, "You look harried."
"I feel harried," he admitted.
The attendant tried to encourage him. She said, "I just read a book that might help!" She said she highly recommended it. It was a book
called STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART. She told him that it had some wonderful stress-management techniques that he might try.
At that point Dr. Ornish decided to make the changes he so desperately needed.
(From "Why Being Happy Keeps You Healthy," by Dean Ornish, M.D., "Family Circle," April 1, 1998) We need lots of rest. These bodies are beautiful creations. They run practically on peanuts and, when well cared for, they can serve us splendidly for many years. But when neglected they run down like an unwound clock.
Sir John Lubbock once said this about relaxation: "Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day
listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."
Is it time to rest?


BY Steve Goodier

[Rhonda]

A BETTER WAY

We live in a day of unrestrained violence. Children are snatched from
homes or slain at school. Bombs and missiles are exploded in public
places. There is war and there are rumors of war. No community, no
race, no nation is immune to nor protected from a growing culture of
violence. More than ever, we need to learn a different way, for the
path we're following has led us into a dark and dangerous wilderness.

I like the way of Khamisa and Felix. One deadly evening in 1995,
14-year-old Tony Hicks shot and killed a 21-year-old college student
and pizza deliveryman. Tony and several other gang members ordered
pizza and, when it was delivered, Tony was told by his gang to
shoot the young man who delivered the food, Tariq Khamisa.

Tariq's father Azim was enraged at the senseless killing. "There's
something really wrong with a society where kids kill kids," he spat.
He was angry at the kids, but he was even more upset with a culture
that breeds so much violence.

Shortly after his son's death, Azim heard from a gentleman named Ples
Felix. Ples was Tony Hick's grandfather. Azim invited Ples to his
home and the two men shared their mutual grief and heartache. They
also decided to do something. "I realized that change had to start
with me," Azim reasoned. Therefore, though he may have wanted
revenge, Azim Khamisa chose a different way to respond to his son's
death.

What happened? Azim Khamisa toured the United States with Ples Felix,
the grandfather of his son's killer. The two men visited schools with
a message of nonviolence. They told the story of Tariq and Tony --
one child dead and the other in prison. And in a culture of violence,
these two men of peace change lives -- by changing the attitudes of
young people.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that we do not start living until we can
rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the
broader concerns of all humanity. If that is true, then these two men
are helping the rest of us to truly live. They're showing us a better
way. And if we listen and learn, I believe we'll all be saved.

[Rhonda]

TIME TO WAKE UP

Rich Johnson quips, "My mom always claimed to feel bad when a bird
would slam head-first into our living room window. If she REALLY felt
bad, though, she'd have moved the bird feeder outside."

We laugh, but what a great life lesson! If we feel badly enough about
something, we will change it. If we feel badly enough about a
behavior or an attitude, we will adopt a better behavior or a
healthier attitude. We CAN change!

You remember Charles thingyens immortal story "Christmas Carol." The
miserly Scrooge grows increasingly unconcerned with others and
isolated until, one night, he is invited by supernatural visitors to
change. The "Ghost of Christmas Past" takes him by the hand and shows
him how his life has unfolded and how his self-centered decisions
have led him to his present unhappy state. The "Ghost of Christmas
Present" takes the blindfolds off his narrow view of life so he can
clearly see how he has insolated himself from the struggles of
others. Finally, the "Ghost of Christmas Future" portrays to Scrooge
what is likely to happen if he persists along his present course. It
is an ugly sight.

Then...how does the story end? Scrooge wakes up. That's right -- he
WAKES UP! When he awakens from his slumber he also awakens to the way
things are. He wakes up and changes! We really CAN change.

The name of Scrooge should never be associated with a miserly person.
That was the OLD Scrooge. But he woke up! He became generous and
jovial. He realized that he could enjoy life. He discovered love --
by giving it away! Nobody "kept Christmas" like Scrooge, thingyens
tells us.

And that's what change is -- waking up. Waking up to the fact the
things really CAN be different! We CAN change.

I like this prayer "with a twist":

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change;
The courage to change the one I can;
And the wisdom to know that person is me."

--Steve Goodier

[Rhonda]

CHANGING THE WORLD

A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had
been turned away because it "was too crowded."

"I can't go to Sunday School," Hattie May Wiatt sobbed to the pastor
as he walked by. Dr. Russell H. Conwell, the church's pastor, took
her by the hand and found a place for her in the Sunday School class.

Some two years later, little Hattie May lay dead in one of the
poverty-stricken tenement buildings near the church. Her parents
called for church's pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to
handle the final arrangements. Hattie May's mother gave the pastor a
tiny purse her daughter had found in a trash can and kept under her
pillow. The purse contained 57 cents and a note scribbled in childish
handwriting. The note read, "This is to help build the little church
bigger so more children can go to Sunday school."

For two years she had saved pennies. Dr. Conwell took the purse and
coins into the pulpit and told of one little girl's dream to build a
larger church.

A newspaper learned of the story and published it. Conwell told it
and retold it. Eventually, inspired by Mattie May's sacrifice, an
area resident offered him land at a reduced price. Church members
gave sacrificially and $250,000 was eventually raised for a new
church building, a large sum of money more than 100 years ago. Hattie
May's dream was coming true.

Temple Baptist Church in Philadelphia eventually grew to a large
church with a seating capacity of 3,300. Dr. Conwell also founded
Temple University in 1884 (first called Temple College), upon which
campus the church is still located. He and the church then built The
Samaritan Hospital (now University Hospital) -- to provide quality
medical care for those who lived in the neighborhood, such as Hattie
May Wiatt.

Joel Barker accurately says, "Vision without action is merely a
dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action
can change the world."

Hattie May had a vision and she acted. She worked hard to save 57
cents. A church had a vision and acted. Through hard work and
sacrifice, they made almost impossible dreams come true.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead sums it up like this: "Never doubt that
a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

[Rhonda]

__________

FEW GOOD FOLLOWERS

A young woman was filling out an application for college when she
came across the question: Are you a leader? She thought she had
better be brutally honest, so she answered, "No." She was convinced
when she sent the application in that she'd never hear from them
because of that answer.

But she received a letter back from the school that read: "We have
reviewed numerous applications and, to date, there will be some 1,452
new leaders attending school next year. We have decided to accept
your application because we felt it was imperative that they have at
least one follower."

One man bought a sign and put it on his office door. The sign read:
"I'm the boss." The next day he came to work he noticed that someone
had put a post-it on his sign that said, "Your wife called. She wants
her sign back."

We can't all be the boss. And what good are leaders without
followers? In actuality, we need to be both.

Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. We lead by example, but we
still follow role models. We lead by sharing our expertise, but we
remain open to the wisdom of others.

There are numerous courses and lessons on leadership. Yet the best
leaders are also excellent followers. They know how to listen, they
respect and follow great ideas from those around them, and they are
humble enough to seek help when it's needed.

You may be the boss, but do you know how to follow? This world could
use a few good followers.

[Rhonda]

KEEPING PACE WITH YOURSELF

Who is setting your standards for you?

A true story has it that one older man decided to jog around the
local high school football field. As he huffed and puffed along,
the team was in practice.

The players soon started running sprints up and down the field.
The man told himself, "I'll just keep running until they quit."
So he ran. And they ran. And he ran some more. And they kept
running. And he kept running until he could finally run no more.
He stopped in exhaustion. One of the players, equally exhausted,
approached him and said, "Boy, I'm glad you finally stopped,
Mister. Coach told us we had to keep running wind sprints as long
as the old guy was jogging!"

He was watching them. They were watching him. He was letting them
set his standard. They allowed him to set theirs.

My question is this: Are you keeping pace with somebody else? Are
you allowing other people to set your standards for you? What
about your standards, or principles, for moral behavior? Or
guidelines for what kind of attitudes you want, or how happy your
relationships should be? Do you keep pace with those around you,
or do you decide yourself just how you will live your life? The
truth is...only you are qualified to determine what your
standards will be.

Set your standards too low, and you'll know only
discontent. But set high standards and you can live an
immeasurably full and worthwhile life. For only when you reach
for the best that is within yourself, will you experience great
living.

Who is setting your standards?
__________

[Rhonda]

SOMETHING TO UNLOCK US

I have hear numerous comments like these: "I want my life to matter."
"I want to make more of a difference to people." "Life is too short.
I may not live a long life, but I do want to look back on a
meaningful one." We live in a time when people are seeking more
authentic ways to live.

We also live in a time when there is less interest in religion
and more in spirituality. Less in denominations and more in
global participation. There seems to be a public yearning for
lasting answers to the gnawing emptiness so many feel within.

Television, movies and print media are tying into our universal
attraction to all things spiritual. And so is the Internet. Just
google the word "God." In English you will get several hundred
million hits! More people are writing and talking about God than the
world's wealthiest, most powerful and most well-known historical
personalities. There is a great interest in spirituality, and for
many people, a renewed quest for meaning.

In the wonderful Lewis Carroll story of "Alice In Wonderland,"
one of the characters is a lock. The lock is restless. It is
busily hunting for something behind every rock and tree. As Alice
watches the lock, her curiosity is aroused and she asks, "What is
the matter?"

The lock replies, "I am looking for something to unlock me."

I think that is our quest -- looking for something to unlock us.
Something to open us up to passion and purpose for living. We
don't want to die before we ever truly LIVE! And we somehow know
that our best answers will be spiritual ones; for we're finally
unlocked when our hearts have been opened. It's a key...to peace.
__________