Welcome the day with open arms, with a grateful heart, and it will be a good and productive day.  Welcome the challenges, the obstacles, as being necessary, and they will strengthen rather than stop you.  Welcome the opinions and perspectives of others, especially if they differ from yours, and your own perspective will grow more valuable.

Autumn makes a demand that we learn to let go...to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness.

Your feelings do not control you.  They help you to understand yourself.  They help you to relate to those around you.  They bring you joy.  They can cause you pain.  They may give you a powerful reason to act, but they cannot cause you to take action without your active approval.

You can act in spite of your feelings, or you can act because of your feelings.  At any given moment the choice is yours.  A successful life often requires that you act against your feelings.  A successful life also requires that you listen to your feelings and take them into consideration.

Feel, think and act with independence.  Keep in mind that a particular feeling does not necessarily require a particular action.  Experience and appreciate your feelings, but don't blame them for what you do.  That is completely up to you.

Ralph Marston

A lady who was recently baptized was asked, "What's it like to be a Christian?"

She replied, "It's like being a pumpkin.  God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes off all the dirt.

Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate and greed.

He carves you a new smiling face, and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."