Enthusiastic Ideas

SAFETY (FEBRUARY 19) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/safety-february-19/ "Not a gift of a cow, nor a gift of land, nor yet a gift of food, is so important as the gift of safety, which is declared to be the great gift among all gifts in this world" (Panchatantra). IF WE HAVE FRIENDS WITH WHOM WE ARE SAFE, WE HAVE ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE TREASURES IN THE WORLD. In relationships where we f...

IMPARTIALITY (FEBRUARY 18) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/impartiality-february-18/ "I am a great foe to favoritism in public life, in private life, and even in the delicate relationship of an author to his works" (Joseph Conrad). WHEN THE TIME COMES TO ACT FAIRLY AND JUSTLY, WE SHOULD BE GUIDED BY IMPARTIALITY RATHER THAN FAVORITISM. If a crime has been committed in the neighborhood, f...

ADVENTURE (FEBRUARY 17) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/adventure-february-17/ "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable" (Helen Keller). WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE’RE PRESENTED WITH SITUATIONS THAT ARE STRANGE AND UNEXPECTEDLY DIFFICULT? Do we back away from them? Like a lazy ri...

ELOQUENCE (FEBRUARY 16) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/eloquence-february-16/ "The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). NOT MANY ORDINARY PEOPLE WOULD SAY THAT ELOQUENCE IS A CHARACTERISTIC THEY DESIRE TO POSSESS. It sounds like something of interest only to public speakers, but let’s take...

PREDICTABILITY (FEBRUARY 15) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/predictability-february-15/ "Our peculiar dangers are those that surprise us and work treachery in the fort" (Henry Ward Beecher). PREDICTABILITY IS ONE OF THE LEAST APPRECIATED OF ALL CHARACTER TRAITS. It’s one of those virtues that operate below the surface, and as long as it’s there, we tend to take it for granted. When some...

ROMANTICISM (FEBRUARY 14) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/romanticism-february-14/ "Life is a romantic business. It is painting a picture, not doing a sum, but you have to make the romance, and it will come to the question of how much fire you have in your belly" (Oliver Wendell Holmes). ROMANTICISM IS A SPIRIT THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OF, AND TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO THINK ABOUT THAT. “Life i...

BREAKTHROUGHS (FEBRUARY 13) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/breakthroughs-february-13/ "In life it is more necessary to lose than to gain. A seed will only germinate if it dies" (Boris Pasternak). A “BREAKTHROUGH” IS A MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT, ONE THAT OPENS THE DOOR TO MUCH FURTHER PROGRESS. It’s important in life to take whatever steps we can take, however small, and we ought not to underest...

COURAGE (FEBRUARY 12) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/courage-february-12/ "I am tired of hearing about men with the “courage of their convictions. Nero and Caligula and Attila and Hitler had the courage of their convictions . . . But not one of them had the courage to examine their convictions or to change them, which is the true test of character" (Sydney J. Harris). TODAY, AS WE CELEB...

STANDARDS (FEBRUARY 11) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/standards-february-11/ "Pray to God we may have the courage and the wisdom and the vision to raise a definite standard that will appeal to the best that is in man, and then strive mightily toward that goal" (Harold E. Stassen). LITERALLY, THE WORD "STANDARD" MEANS “RALLYING PLACE.” On the battlefield, a standard is a flag or banner...

PARTICIPATION (FEBRUARY 10) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/participation-february-10/ "To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death" (Jean Anouilh). LIFE CALLS US TO MAKE A DECISION: WILL WE PARTICIPATE OR MERELY OBSERVE? Will we take part in the great drama or be content to s...

CAUTION (FEBRUARY 9) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/caution-february-9/ "Be cautious. Opportunity does the knocking for temptation too" (Al Batt). WHEN WE’RE CONFRONTED WITH DIFFICULT OR DANGEROUS CIRCUMSTANCES, WE NEED TO BE CAUTIOUS. There are forces at work in the world that will destroy us and our loved ones if we don’t watch out. In the living of a human life, it pays to be careful...

TRANQUILITY (FEBRUARY 8) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/tranquility-february-8/ "Calm's not life’s crown, though calm is well" (Matthew Arnold). IF OUR INWARD CHARACTER IS ONE THAT CAN BE CALLED “TRANQUIL,” THEN WE HAVE SOMETHING TO ENJOY. Our individual characters are the result of our choices, of course, and unfortunately, we may not have made choices that lead toward tranquility. If...

BEAUTY (FEBRUARY 7) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/beauty-february-7/ "God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more — something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it" (C. S. Lewis). SOM...

COMPANIONSHIP (FEBRUARY 6) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/companionship-february-6/ "True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self; and, in the next, from the friendship of a few select companions" (Joseph Addison). OUR HAPPINESS NEEDS A LITTLE PRIVACY, BUT IT ALSO NEEDS “THE FRIENDSHIP OF A FEW SEL...

PRIVACY (FEBRUARY 5) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/privacy-february-5/ "The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned, freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy quite as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise" (Phyllis McGinley). THE PERSON WHO IS NEVER ALONE IS A PERSON WHO WILL FIND IT HARD TO GROW IN CHARACTER. We certainly do need contact with...

TRUSTWORTHINESS (FEBRUARY 4) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/trustworthiness-february-4/ "Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath" (Solon). ULTIMATELY, THE ONLY THING THAT WILL MAKE PEOPLE FEEL SAFE IN THEIR INTERACTION WITH US IS THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF OUR CHARACTER. There are times when our commitments will have to be backed up with oaths, vows, contracts, and collatera...

TRUST (FEBRUARY 3) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/trust-february-3/ "The best proof of love is trust" (Joyce Brothers). IN A SENSE, TRUST IS THE MOST GENEROUS GIFT ONE PERSON CAN GIVE TO ANOTHER. All of us know that we’ve fallen short of being completely trustworthy; even if we’re generally faithful to our commitments, there have been at least a few times when we’ve let others down. And...

STATURE (FEBRUARY 2) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/stature-february-2/ Be free, all worthy spirits, And stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height. (George Chapman) IN THE LITERAL SENSE, A PERSON’S STATURE IS THAT PERSON’S PHYSICAL HEIGHT. The word comes from the Latin stare (“to stand”), and so stature is how tall a person stands. But we often speak of someone’s “standing” in a...

CONVICTION (FEBRUARY 1) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/conviction-february-1/ "The enemies a person makes by taking a stand will have more respect for him than the friends he makes by being on the fence" (Anonymous). CONVICTION IS “THE STATE OF BEING CONVINCED.” If we’re convicted (i.e., convinced) that a certain belief is accurate and that the belief is important, then we hold it in ou...

REDEMPTION (JANUARY 31) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/redemption-january-31/ "Evil can never be undone, but only purged and redeemed" (Dorothy L. Sayers). THE ANONYMOUS LATIN-SPEAKING PROVERBIST WHO ORIGINALLY SAID ERRARE HUMANUM EST (“TO ERR IS HUMAN”) PACKED A GOOD DEAL OF SAD MEANING INTO A FEW WORDS. We do err, don’t we? All of us do. And when we’ve done so, our hearts are later br...

STEPS (JANUARY 30) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/steps-january-30/ "A glimpse is not a vision. But to a man on a mountain road by night, a glimpse of the next three feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon" (C. S. Lewis). TO BE WILLING TO TAKE STEPS MAY SEEM LIKE A SMALL THING, BUT IT’S ACTUALLY A VERY COURAGEOUS THING AND ALSO ONE THAT’S WISE. Often we don’t know what...

ANCHORAGE (JANUARY 29) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/anchorage-january-29/ "Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly" (George MacDonald). AN “ANCHOR” IS A HEAVY OBJECT ATTACHED TO A VESSEL BY A CABLE AND CAST OVERBOARD TO KEEP THE VESSEL FROM MOVING — AND “ANCHORAGE” IS THE CONDITION OF BEING AT ANCHOR IN A SAFE PLACE. If it’s important for ships to find an...

LAUGHTER (JANUARY 28) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/laughter-january-28/ "Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children" (Kahlil Gibran). WE NEED TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN LIFE TO WHICH LAUGHTER IS THE RIGHT RESPONSE. Sometimes we act as if laughter were nothing more than...

GLADNESS (JANUARY 27) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/gladness-january-27/ "Life is short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind" (Henri-Frédéric Amiel). IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT IS BOTH IMPORTANT AND URGENT, “GLADDENING THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO TRAVEL THE WAY WITH US” WOULD CERTAINLY QUALIF...

URGENCY (JANUARY 26) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/urgency-january-26/ "We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness; it is always urgent, 'here and now' without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point blank" (José Ortega y Gasset). IN MANY CASES, WHATEVER IS WORTH DOING IS NOT ONLY WORTH DOING WELL; IT’S WORTH DO...