1 Cor. 4:14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my
beloved sons I warn you.
CHARMING
All charming people have something to conceal, usually their
total dependence on the appreciation of others.
~ Cyril Connelly
“With mortal age comes the immense need for childish charms.
Like a fine wine, sweetens with maturity.”
~ Rae Lori
“Don't rush to design your face to look beautiful,
attractive and charming. Rather, be quicker to decorate your mind to appear as
goal-oriented, passion-embedded and action-driven.”
~ Israelmore Ayivor
“If you look up "charming" in the dictionary,
you'll see that it not only has references to strong attraction, but to spells
and magic. Then again, what are liars if not great magicians?”
~ Deb Caletti
DECEITFUL
“It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by
honesty and how few by deceit.”
~ Noël Coward
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”
~ William Shakespeare
“Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference
between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s
happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories
treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.”
~ Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation
“Never pretend to be something you are not, especially to be
accepted. Be loved for who you are, it will be tough at times but worth it.”
~ Isabella Poretsis
CONSCIENCE
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is
neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience
tells him it is right.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your
selfishness.
Listen to it carefully.”
~ Richard Bach
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure
without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without
principles."
(Young India, 22 October 1925)”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep
down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to
us, something is out of tune. ”
~ C.G. Jung
PRIDE
“A proud man is always looking down on things and people;
and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that
is above you.”
~ C.S. Lewis
“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking
less than you need. ”
~ Khalil Gibran
“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows
his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”
~ Sophocles
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with
creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated
by pride and vanity.”
~ Dale Carnegie
BELOVED
“Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest
trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.
Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their
seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger
temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that
call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily
perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection.
As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left
alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again
that I am a nobody." ... [My dark side says,] I am no good... I deserve to
be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the
greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice
that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core
truth of our existence.”
~ Henri J.M. Nouwen
“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is
the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”
~ Brennan Manning
“To ignore, repress, or dismiss our feelings is to
fail to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit within our emotional life. Jesus
listened. In John's Gospel we are told that Jesus was moved with the deepest
emotions (11:33)... The gospel portrait of the beloved Child of Abba is that of
a man exquisitely attuned to His emotions and uninhibited in expressing them.
The Son of Man did not scorn or reject feelings as fickle and unreliable. They
were sensitive antennae to which He listened carefully and through which He
perceived the will of His Father for congruent speech and action.”
~ Brennan Manning
