'Pause For Thought' 19/5/09
Sometimes a little gem of a sentence jumps off the pages of a book and helps to put life in perspective. It happened the other night when I was reading a piece by the American spiritual writer Ronald Rolheiser. He said, “In Western culture, the joyous shouting of children often irritates us because it interferes with our depression.” That’s too close to the truth to be funny. There are times when we let the world get the better of us. There are times when we let depression blind us to the good things all around. There are times when we seem happy to be depressed.
Even a saint like Mother Teresa of Calcutta spent much of her life doubting whether God existed at all. However she kept on doing good anyway. It is said that after she died a piece of paper with eight pearls of wisdom written on it, was found in her room. As far as I know she didn’t write these words, but they obviously became the beatitudes of her life. They are full of hope and that is why I share them with you this morning.
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred.
Love them anyway!
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway!
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway!
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do it anyway!
Honesty and openness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and open anyway!
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway!
People really need help but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway!
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
In short you should do the best you can and don’t let the begrudgers get you down.
Even a saint like Mother Teresa of Calcutta spent much of her life doubting whether God existed at all. However she kept on doing good anyway. It is said that after she died a piece of paper with eight pearls of wisdom written on it, was found in her room. As far as I know she didn’t write these words, but they obviously became the beatitudes of her life. They are full of hope and that is why I share them with you this morning.
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred.
Love them anyway!
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway!
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway!
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do it anyway!
Honesty and openness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and open anyway!
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway!
People really need help but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway!
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
In short you should do the best you can and don’t let the begrudgers get you down.
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