One song can spark a moment, One flower can wake the dream. One tree can start a forest, One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship, One handclasp lifts a soul. One star can guide a ship at sea, One word can frame the goal.
One vote can change a nation, One sunbeam lights a room. One candle wipes out darkness, One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey, One word must start each prayer. One hope will raise our spirits, One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom, One heart can know what’s true, One life can make the difference, that one life – it needs to be you!
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.
You don`t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don`t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace;
a soul generated by love.”
Martin Luther King, Jr
EACH OF US IS SPECIAL
Don’t undermine your worth
by comparing yourself to others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you. Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
for without them life is meaningless.
Don’t let your life slip through your fingers
by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time,
you live all the days of your life.
Don’t give up
when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other. Don’t be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don’t dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don’t run through life so fast
that you forget not only where you’ve been,
but also where you’re going.
Life is not a race,
but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.
Nancye V. Sims
We cannot avoid pain, however hard we try.
But we can avoid joy.
We cannot escape hardship and trouble,
but we can miss out on much of life's peace and laughter.
If you feel as if you could use more joy, here are a few tips:
• Do something today just for the fun of it.
• Decide to fill your thoughts with less anxiety and more peace.
• Laugh a little more. A little more heartily and a little more often.
• Practice a hopeful attitude.
• Love as much as you can. Love people. Love experiences. Love ideas. Love beauty. In short - love life.
You may occasionally find yourself amid life’s rubble. But strangely - even there you can discover joy. It’s one of the beautiful contradictions of life.
Slow me down, Lord!
Ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting on my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day,
the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Teach me the art of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend, to pat a dog,
to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise,
that I may know that the race is not always to the swift,
that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Slow me down, Lord,
and inspire me to send my roots
deep into the soil of life's enduring values
that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
That I may find you, my God.
Lord, as I offer you all that is ordinary and everyday in my life,
I ask you to give me the power of your Spirit
that I may do the ordinary things
in an extraordinary way. Amen.
