Optimistic acts.

What choices are you making in your perception of the events around you? We choose how we view our times. There is a pinch of pessimism in our culture now. Counter it with a small acts of optimism.

pick up a piece of litter that isn't yours. Show some extra grace on the freeway. Give to your food bak. Smile as a child who is in your way. Help someone you know. Help someone you don't know.

The accumulation of small, optimistic acts produces quality in our culture and in your life. Our culture resinates a tense times to individual acts of grace. What's your choice?

Power

We are all tempted to the opportunity to raise our status by lowering someone else's. Do you define your power in relation to others? Do you let racist or sexist remarks pass by you with no comment? Are you sure you can look at someone and define his or her worth on the basic of class and style.

Ther is an almost irresistable urge to prove our power and worth through comparison. We view power as power over others. the life of gandhi offers a glimpse of an alternative philosophy. A different use of power.

Thinking about power makes us apprehensive, Power corrupts power is violence. We forget the difference between power used to manipulate others and power used to empower others.

Power is a neutral force; we control the quality of it's use. People who feel their own life force, their internal power, have np need for control over others.

The Journey

Success sometimes seems like a collection of products or a place that you can get to or buy. When we are small we think we will be happy when we can finally turn over or walk or go to school. Then it is being old enough to date or drive or finish school-that really feels like a success.

Some people think that success is getting married. That's when they'll be really be happy. Or that real happiness comes when a baby finally arrives. Maybe we'll be successful and happy when we get the job and the promotion, or when the kids finally leave home and we have some peace. Success might be when the house is finished or when we retire. The "golden years- that's it. that when we reach success.

Success is every minute you live. It is the process of living. It is stopping for the moment of beauty, of pleasure, the moments of peace. Success is not a destination that you ever reach. Success is the quality of the journey.

God Listens

You can talk to God because God listens. Your voice matters in heaven. He takes you very seriosly. When you enters his presence, He turns to you to hear your voice. No need to fear that you will be ignored. Even if you stammer or stumble, even if what you have to say impresses no one, it impresses God and He listens.

He listens to the painful plea of the erderly in the rest home. He listens to the gruff confession of the death row inmate. When the alcoholic begs for mercy, when the spouse seeks guidance, when the businessmanstep off the streetsinto the chapel. God listens

Intently. Carefully

The Fruitful Life

We want our life to be meaningful and to have purpose. We also desire to have some impact for good on others and on our world. We want our life to be fruitful. Fruitfulness, however, is very differently understood by different people.

Some see a life given to prayer as a fruitful life. Other see a life given to a social activism and caring for the poor as a fruitful life. Some see in terms of healing.. Others see it in successful and important secular career. Some see in terms of virtue, other in terms of productivity. Clearly we will measure fruitfulness differently depending on the values we hold.

We are often think of the fruitful life is springing from strenght, power, and overflow. But we soon learn that we often have more to give when we are open, vulnerable and aware of our own limitations.

Fruitfulness, moreover, is enhanced when our life is characterised by thankfulness, appreciation and gratitude. This allow us to appropriate the good that comes our way. So much of that we can nurture us is carelessly thrown away because we don't appreciate the many little blessing that we receive. Instead we are often unthankful, we grumble and are so focused on future expectations that we don't see the daily good that so unexpectedly.

Finally, fruitfulness, is sustained by care. We need to watch over the seeds of hope. We need to care for what we are and have. We need to channel our resources. We cannot be haphazard or wasteful or slothful and expect to be fruitful. The nourishing sources of life need to be constantly tapped less we find ourselves in a position where much is expected of us while we have little to give.