To My Child:
I gave you life...but I cannot live it for you.
I can give you directions...but I can't always be there to lead you.
I can allow you freedom...but I cannot account for it.
I can take you to church...but I cannot make you believe.
I can teach you right from wrong...but I cannot always decide for you.
I can buy you beautiful clothes...but I cannot make you lovely inside.
I can give you love...but I cannot force it upon you.
I can teach you to be a friend...but I cannot make you one.
I can teach you to share...but I cannot make you unselfish.
I can advise you about friends...but I cannot choose them for you.
I can tell you about the facts of life...but I cannot build your reputation.
I can tell you about drink and drugs...but I cannot say NO for you.
I can tell you about lofty goals...but I cannot achieve them for you.
I can teach you kindness...but I cannot force you to be gracious.
I can warn you about sin...but I cannot make your morals.
I can pray for you...but I cannot make you walk with God.
I can teach you about Jesus...but I cannot make Him your Saviour.
I can teach you to obey...but I cannot make Jesus your Lord.
I can tell you how to live...but I cannot give you Eternal Life.
Thanks for listening, Mother

"I" Versus God:
Court cases sometimes are labeled:
"Stevenson vs.the People" or "Jones vs. Texas", and sometimes I wonder that great sin the person did to be "against" by so many persons. But at the Last Judgment, every case will be labeled "(I) vs. God!"

OLD NEWS STILL GOOD:
Some time ago a traveling evangelist was singing to himself the song, "I've been Redeemed." A fellow passenger, hearing, joined him in the song. After singing, the evangelist put the question to the stranger. "Have you been redeemed?" "About nineteen hundred years ago."

The reply was astonishing and thoughts of insanity were astir in the mind of the evangelist. "Nineteen hundred years ago?" "Yes, sir, but I'm sorry to say it's not much more than a year that I have known it." (-George Cavanagh)

COMPLAINERS LIVE LONGER?
A recent medical survey states that chronic complainers live longer than people who are always sweet and serene. It claims that their cantankerous spirit gives them a purpose for living. Each morning they get up with a fresh challenge to see how many things they can find to grumble about, and they derive great satisfaction from making others miserable.

I question whether those who complain actually do outlive those who don't. Maybe it just seems that way to everybody around them. (-Herbert Vander Lught)

HAYDN'S MUSIC:
Haydn, the great musician, was once asked why his church music was so cheerful, and he replied: "When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen, and since God has given me a cheerful heart it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit." (-Gospel Hearld)

JUST THINK:
Of stepping on shore, And finding it Heaven;
Of taking hold of a hand, And finding it God's hand;
Of breathing new air, And finding it heavenly air;
Of feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality;
Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken calm;
Of waking up - And finding it HOME! -Selected