Piloting Faith: No greater tragedy than an unused gift...

A Word for the Day...

When I was a very young child, I went to Six Flags Over Georgia one day and went into one of those stores that sells the little glass figurines. I was entranced by this place. All of those little statues were so beautiful and so delicate that I almost felt like I shouldn’t even breathe for fear that I would knock one over. As I was browsing, I came across a little figurine of a horse that captured by heart. I grew up riding horses and to this day love those animals. So I made a decision there to buy that little horse, so that I could take him home.

The sales clerk put it in a little white box, and for the rest of the day, I didn’t ride anything else. I just held my little box so that no one would sit on it or do anything to break it. When I got it home, I pulled it out and looked at it for at least an hour. But then I put it right back into that box because I was sure that if I left it out, it would be broken.

So there that little horse lay for ten years. I completely forgot that I even had it. As I was going through some things of mine later as an adult, I found it in that box. But that box had been put under a larger, heavier box, so that when I opened it, I discovered that my little horse that I had so thoughtfully protected had been crushed.

I learned something important that day. Anytime you receive something precious, you have to make a decision. Either 1. The gift is so valuable that it can’t be risked, or 2. The gift is so valuable that it must be risked. What I learned from that experience was that there is no tragedy like the tragedy of an unused gift.

What gifts should you be offering to the world and to yourself today?

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

- Mother Teresa