|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There’s a story about the California gold rush that tells of two brothers who sold all they had and went prospecting for gold. They discovered a vein of the shining ore, staked a claim, and proceeded to get down to the serious business of getting the gold ore out of the mine. All went well at first, but then a strange thing happened. The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there. The brothers continued to pick away, but without succes. Finally, they gave up in disgust. They sold their equipment and claim rights for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Now the man who bought the claim hired an engineer to examine the rock strata of the mine. The engineer advised him to continue digging in the same spot where the former owners had left off. And three feet deeper, the new owner struck gold. A little more persistence and the two brothers would have been millionaires themselves. That’s gold in you too. Do you need to dig three feet farther? — Anon Are you blessed? If you woke up this morning with more health than illness..........you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful...you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you prayed yesterday and today...you are in the minority because you believe God does hear and answer prayers. If you can read now, you are more blessed than over 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all. — Anon Handling criticism It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at his best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt |
