Back by popular demand: Motivation Monday 🙂
07
Feb 2011
10
Jan 2011
“Wisdom is the skillful use of knowledge and understanding for successful living” –A.R. Bernard
03
Jan 2011
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”- Edith Lovejoy
I think this is the perfect way to start a new year and a new work week. Enjoy!
27
Dec 2010
The words and teachings of Pastor A.R. Bernard
Bad temper is contagious – don’t get infected.
Proverbs 22:25 MSG
Learning the art of happiness means learning how to deal with difficult people. After all, even the most saintly among us can be difficult to deal with at times. So it’s inevitable that, from time to time, you’ll encounter folks who behave inappropriately in the same way, or worse.
If you have occasion to deal with difficult people, remember the following tips:
1. Make Sure That You’re Not the One Being Difficult: Perhaps the problems that concern you have their origin, at least partially, within your own heart. If so, fix yourself first (Philippians 2:3).
2. Don’t Lecture: Lectures inevitably devolve into nagging; nagging creates animosity, not lasting change. Since nagging usually creates more problems than it solves, save your breath (Proverbs 15:1)
3. Don’t Become Caught Up in the Other Person’s Emotional Outbursts: If someone is ranting, raving, or worse, you have the right to get up and leave. Remember: Emotions are highly contagious, so if the other person is angry, you will soon become angry, too. Instead of adding your own emotional energy to the outburst, your should make the conscious effort to remain calm-and part of remaining calm may be leaving the scene of the argument (Proverbs 22:24-25).
4. Stand Up for Yourself: If you’re being mistreated, either physically, emotionally, or professionally, it’s time to start taking care of yourself. But remember that standing up for yourself doesn’t require an angry outburst on your part. You can (and probably should) stand up for yourself in a calm, mature, resolute manner. And you should do so sooner rather than later (Psalm 27:1).
5. Be Quick to Forgive: If you can’t find it in your heart to forgive those who have hurt you, you’re hurting yourself more than you’re hurting anyone else.
A Simple Step
Insist upon logical consequences to irresponsible behavior. When you protect other people from the consequences of their misbehavior, you’re doing those folks a profound disservice. Most people don’t learn new behaviors until the old behaviors stop working, so don’t be an enabler (Hebrews 12:5-6).
20
Dec 2010
From the words and teachings of Pastor A.R. Bernard
Even though good people may be bothered by trouble seven times, they are never defeated.
Proverbs 24:16 NCV
If you want to be happy, consistently happy, you must learn how to deal with failure. Why? Because all of us face setbacks from time to time-those occasional failures are simply the price we pay for being dues-paying members of the human race.
Mary Pickford was “America’s sweetheart” in the early days of motion pictures. And along with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, she formed United Artists Corporation, a Hollywood powerhouse.
Miss Pickford had a simple yet powerful formula for success: She said, “This thing we call ‘failure’ is not falling down, but staying down.” She might well have added that every time we get back up, we build character.
Life’s occasional setbacks are simply the price that we must pay for our willingness to take risks as we follow our dreams. But even when we encounter bitter disappointments, we must never lose faith.
Hebrews 10:36 advises, “Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised” (NLT). These words remind us that when we persevere, we will eventually receive the rewards which God has promised us. What’s required is perseverance, not perfection.
When we face hardships, God stands ready to protect us. Our responsibility, of course, is to ask Him for protection. When we call upon Him in heartfelt prayer, He will answer. In His own time and according to His own plan, He will do His part to heal us. We, of course, must do our part, too.
And, while we are waiting for God’s plans to unfold and for His healing touch to restore us, we can be comforted in the knowledge that our Creator can overcome any obstacle, even if we cannot.
A Simple Step
Setbacks are inevitable-your response to them is optional. You can turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones…and you should. Failure is the womb for success
