Some people are like fences—they run around a lot without getting anywhere. Flowers that bend toward the sun do so even on cloudy days. The way to endure change is to find something that never changes. To be helped, one must be willing to be helped. Two of the greatest personality handicaps are regret and…
Author: Alan Holden
Special Days
The most important part about Christmas is the first six letters. Unless we see the cross overshadow the cradle, we will have lost the real meaning of Christ’s birth. At Christmas consider not so much the gift of a friend but the friendship of the giver. It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas…
Smiling
Smiles never go up in price nor down in value. A smile is mightier than a grin. People all over the world smile in the same language. You might as well laugh at yourself once in a while; everybody else does. If there is a smile in your heart, your face will show it. God…
Sin
Sin is not judged by the way we see it but by the way God sees it. The cross is a symbol of God’s heartbreak over a world that has gone astray. One may go wrong in many directions, but right in only one. Hatred of sin should not keep us from loving the sinner….
Sharing
It is so much easier to tell a person what to do with his problems than to stand with him in his pain. No matter what scales we use, we can never know the weight of another person’s burden. The debt we owe to God is payable to man. How much I’m willing to sacrifice…
Service
Service can never become slavery to one who loves. Want the best? Give your best. No one can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody. God chose the poor and the few to do His work because the rich and the many, being preoccupied, refused Him. Grant that the heat in my heart will melt…
Selfishness
Selfishness makes Christmas a burden; love makes it a delight. Americans used to say, “Give me liberty.” Today they just say, “Give me.” The perfect gift for the person who has everything—a burglar alarm. A bore is a person who spends so much time talking about himself that you can’t talk about yourself. Too many…
Self-denial
To get rid of our cross is easy—die upon it. It is not what we take up but what we give that makes us rich. You cannot make it into heaven without bearing your cross on earth. Joining the Red Cross will not take the place of bearing your cross. Church members wear a cross;…
Self-awareness
There are three hard things: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self. The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. The easiest person to deceive is yourself. If you are looking for perfection, don’t look in the mirror. Some people think they are in the groove when they are really only in…
Satan
Avoid Satan as a lion, dread him as a serpent, and fear him as an angel of light. Satan’s ploys are no match for the Savior’s power. The devil would rather put a long face on a saint than throw down a high church steeple. Don’t let Satan deceive you into thinking that when you…