God I want to give You every minute of this year. I shall try to keep You in mind every moment of my waking hours....I shall try to let You be the speaker and direct every word. I shall try to let You direct my acts. I shall try to learn Your language.

Gratitude heals cleanses and purifies.

Success is for those who are persistent in the face of reality. The harsher the truth the stronger they hold on to their dreams.

And so the game went on in this manner a throng of children playing keep-away from a bowling ball tossed back and forth between two plump ogres. The air filled with shrieks and cheers and shouts of laughter as daring players thrilled at the sport. That is all but the few poor souls knocked flat and captured. No laughter rose from behind bars because those in the birdcage knew what was in store. They would soon be lunch for a couple of hungry ogres. Now you might be thinking Waitdidnt Gavin call it fun when he was swallowed by a wolf earlier And didnt he tell that raven-haired girl it doesnt hurt to be swallowed whole by a bear All true all true. But heres a secret you might not know. Ogres chew their food. Luckily its only the first bite that stings.

Christ sometimes delays His help so He may test our faith and energize our prayers. Our boat may be tossed by the waves while he continues to sleep but He will awake before it sinks.

Success is not about getting it right the first time but about not giving up even if it takes a lifetime of effort.

When in prayer there is no need to implore beg or repeat. You have been heard and your wishes will be granted perfectly at the right time. Relax be patient and do not fret.

When I write that my own situation in those months of pain and decision can be described as prayer I do not only recall that during that time I sometimes read the Psalms and they became my psalms or that as I have also mentioned I occasionally cried Jesus and that name was my prayer but I mean that I also at times would shout Fuck and that was no obscenity but a most earnest prayerful utterance.In the final analysis no matter what the vocabulary of prayer or where muteness displaces words in prayer the contentwhat is communicated by a person in the world before Godin prayer is in each and every circumstance the same and it can be put plainly in one word HelpThat is the word of Gethsemanes prayer that is the word of the Lords Prayer that is the prayer when Christ repeats the Twenty-second Psalm from the cross.It is the prayer of Christ interceding for all people and it is the prayer of a human creature acknowledging Gods vocation in affirming the life which God has called into being.

Delivering everyday greatness or not is up to you.

Children are more than we think they are they can do more than we think they can do. All they need is a vote of confidence from grownups whom they will ultimately replace anyway. Their dream today will become the realities of tomorrow.