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Words of Wisdom

There Are Dreams Worth Fighting For

worthfightingfor

“Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things.” – 1 Corinthians 9, WEB

There are some things we have to do even if we don’t like doing them. To have the proper nutrients for our body, we eat a balanced diet which may include food we don’t naturally like to eat. To be good at a certain sports, we take the pains of practicing for hours daily. We stay up late studying so we can learn and have good marks at school. We do research and work long hours in order to accomplish our job.

Here is patience. Here is sacrifice for a worthy cause. Here is perseverance.

Like a mother then who knows she will be experiencing great pains in order to give birth to her baby, may we never be deterred by temporary struggles from reaching the highest aspirations of our hearts.

“For, after all, every one who wishes to gain true knowledge must climb the Hill Difficulty alone, and since there is no royal road to the summit, I must zigzag it in my own way. I slip back many times, I fall, I stand still, I run against the edge of hidden obstacles, I lose my temper and find it again and keep it better, I trudge on, I gain a little, I feel encouraged, I get more eager and climb higher and begin to see the widening horizon. Every struggle is a victory. One more effort and I reach the luminous cloud, the blue depths of the sky, the uplands of my desire.” – Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

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Words of Wisdom

You Can Always Do a Better Job

greatlovework

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

Don’t think you’re doing a small job, because you can always do a small job in a great way.

Because it’s not just the job you do that matters. It is the person that you are that adds real value to whatever it is that you are doing.

Go ahead. Do that extra mile. Be courteous. Be respectful. Know what your client really needs and take care of them. Have the initiative to be helpful. Wear a warm smile that could brighten someone else’s day.

You are not your job after all. You are what’s inside of you and what you allow yourself to offer to the world.

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
-Kahlil Gibran

“And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men…” – Colossians 3:23, WEB

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Words of Wisdom

If We Could Listen With Our Hearts

listenheart

“May we always try to listen not only with our ears, but with our hearts. “ – Jocelyn Soriano

Much of the really important words often remain unsaid. Out of the many things we say, we reserve what we really mean within our own hearts. I guess this is one reason why we often fail to understand each other.

If only we had the honesty and the courage to say how much we really love another. If we only had that childlike simplicity to voice out what we really need or how we really feel. Maybe then we’d get to know each other better, deeper. Maybe we could finally give each other what we really need – whether it be space, apology, encouragement or affection.

Today, let’s try to listen, really listen to what other people are saying. Because somewhere beneath the anger, somewhere beneath the pride and the noise and the laughter, there is that part that longs to be really heard.

If I knew you and you knew me,
If both of us could clearly see,
And with an inner sight divine
The meaning of your heart and mine,
I’m sure that we would differ less
And clasp our hands in friendliness;
Our thoughts would pleasantly agree
If I knew you, and you knew me.
-Nixon Waterman

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Words of Wisdom

Do You Know That You Are Loved?

dontknowlove

“Today, many people are angry and hurt not because they are not loved, but because they don’t really know how much they are loved.” – Jocelyn Soriano

You may not know it, but you are loved. You may think you’re alone, but you are not. You may feel like you’re worthless, but you are priceless in someone’s eyes.

Why can’t we see it? Why can’t we see what we so badly need?

Why do we feel as though we’re being judged instead of being cared for? And why do we think we’re being condemned when we’re actually being saved?

Love saves. Love heals. Love pursues us, but we so often run away.

Are you running away? Are you looking for love in all the wrong places? Are you willing to wait and stand still to see the one who’s been looking for you all along?

“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.” – Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love

“The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence…” – St. John Paul II

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Words of Wisdom

Look Up and Start Again!

Single Oak Tree at Sunset

“Watch for the new thing God is going to do!” – Jocelyn Soriano

This is a new day. Let the wounds of yesterday be healed. Let your past fears be swept away. The sun has risen! A new day has begun.

We need not remain in the shadows of the night. We need not remain in the darkness of our hurts.

Let your sorrows fade away and let your songs of grief depart. It is time to sing a new song. A song of hope. A song of new beginnings.

You have been chosen to witness this day, to receive life and strength and breath this very hour. Forget what has put you down. Look up! You will have everything you need to start again.

“Do not cling to events of the past
or dwell on what happened long ago.
Watch for the new thing I am going to do.
It is happening already—you can see it now!
I will make a road through the wilderness
and give you streams of water there.
-Isaiah 43:18-19, GNT