Prayers and Thoughts

for Reflection

Lenton Devotional

2007

March 16

All the so-called "secrets of success" will not work unless you do. 

Author Unknown

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts.  This is the secret of success. 

Swami Sivananda

It is God who works in you according to his good purpose.
Philippians 2:13

This is a story about four people named ‘Everybody’, ‘Somebody’, ‘Anybody’, and ‘Nobody’.  There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job.  Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.  It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anyone could have. 

Author Unknown

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3

Vision without action is a daydream.  Action with without vision is a nightmare. 

Japanese Proverb

This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it - the LORD is his name: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:2-3

When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop.  We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver.  The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began.  But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs.  I think life is like this game.  Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds.  We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles.  Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one.  And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. 

Pierce Vincent Eckhart

The best way out of a problem is through it. 

Author Unknown

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.
Proverbs 4:11-12

All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them. 

William F. Halsey

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks. 

Jack Penn

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

I wish to be of service, Lord.  Give me the courage to step out and up to the plate.  Erase my doubts and fears and give me the needed skills to tackle any task in front of me.  Shower me with faith that I can succeed.  Remove any, “I can’t possibility do that!”  Put a fence around any worries.  Enliven my imagination with ideas of things needing to be done. Provide me with vision, so I can see how to succeed. Move in me, so others may come to know You.  Thank you for your help. Amen.