SOME MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES ON EXCELLENCE

1. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

2. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.”- Socrates.

3. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” - Martin Luther King Jr.

4. “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.”  - Hunter S. Thompson.

5. “Do your best, and be a little better than you are.”-  Gordon B. Hinckley.

6. “If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”- John Wooden.

7. Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” - Booker T. Washington.

8.  “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle

9. “I am a man of simple tastes easily satisfied with the best” - Winston Churchill.

10. “Do ordinary things extraordinarily well.” - Gregg Harris.

11. Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.”-Habeeb Akande.

SOME REMEDY FOR AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE

An unhappy marriage hardly needs defining. We are talking about when you are stuck with spending the rest of your life with someone with whom you are not happy. It is a thorn in the flesh; it is painful. Paul said he prayed three times for his particular situation to be resolved. Perhaps you have prayed 33 times, or even 3,033 times, for your situation to improve. In your dreams, you saw only marital bliss. But, no, it has been anything but bliss. You have watched others separate, and you have envied them. Others get divorced and you think, I wish that could happen to me, but you have stuck it out. You are not happy.

 

Can this actually describe a Christian? Yes. Does God truly want this in a Christian marriage? No. Have you said to yourself, Is this all there is? It is like going to that place on vacation when you say, "Is this it? I have looked forward to this?" So it is with marriage. Yet, if you put Jesus Christ first, this nightmare of a marriage can be the greatest source of blessing.

A wife must submit to a husband who is not very nice, and a husband must love his wife even if she, at the moment, may not seem lovable. This is the pattern. Husbands, love your wives. That means you must respect her, build her up, and care for her. This is the challenge to see whether you are a real man. Do you think you are a man merely because you can attract women? Or because of how strong or how good-looking you are? Do you want to be a real man? Then love your wife! That is what builds character.

No marriage is perfect. Most marriages can be saved, and you can fall in love all over again. Love Jesus Christ more than you love each other. Don't wait for the other person to get it right, and you may one day realize that that thorn is part of a rose, beautiful and fragrant.

By  R. T. Kendall

Why Your Job Might Be Causing Weight Gain and Some Solutions To It

Part of the problem of weight gain at the office is the inactivity of sitting behind a desk all day. But there are some great exercises you can do right at your desk. Set a timer to remind you to do these simple exercises:

1. For your tummy: Sit tall and straighten the spine. Then clench the abdominal muscles as tightly as possible, pulling your belly button back toward the spine. Hold for one to five seconds and repeat 20 times. Do at least three times daily.

2. For your thighs: While seated with knees together, imagine someone's pulling them apart and it's your job to keep them together by squeezing your inner thigh muscles in one-second pulses. Do this at least three times daily.

3. For your backside: Start to stand up, with heels digging into the ground to contract the backside muscles, but pause a beat about three-quarters of the way through the standing motion. Sit back down, and then stand up as you normally would. It's a great way to get exercise without even breaking a sweat.

Some call the above "deskercises." These days, many exercise programs offer chair options.

* Buy an aerobic or other kind of exercise CD and begin working out with it. You don't have to spend a lot of money. You can find many such tapes and CDs in thrift shops and places that resell CDs. 
 

By Steve Reynolds

PASTOR DISGUISE AS HOMELESS, CHURCH MEMBERS MISTREAT HIM BADLY

Church Members Mistreat Homeless Man In Church Unaware It Is Their Pastor in Disguise!  

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service, only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him.

 

He asked people for change to buy food – no one in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit in the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

    As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation.

    “We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek.” The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation.

    The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with all eyes on him. He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited,

    “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

    “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    ‘The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

   
After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame.

    He then said, “Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?”

    He then dismissed service until next week.  Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ should be more than just talk. It ought to be a lifestyle that others around you can love about you and share in.

Culled from:The-wopr.newvine

PRAYER FOR THE NEW MONTH (DECEMBER TO REMEMBER)

The Almighty God will bring testimonies out of whatever you are going through now. Where you have been rejected, you will go back there to reign as a king and queen. God will suddenly terminate the appointment of everyone frustrating you in your place of work. Though you have not achieved anything so far this year, but God will give you a sudden miracle that will make you to remember this year for ever in Jesus Name.

The Almighty God will look beyond your sins and mistakes with mercy through the blood of His son, Jesus Christ. Whatever is troubling your mind will suddenly vanish and you will have joy unspeakable. Before this week comes to an end, you will encounter favour that will completely and permanently change the story of your life for better in Jesus name.

God is breaking asunder every gates of wickedness, sickness, hardship, oppressions and afflictions holding your life back. The Lord shall transform and restore your destiny, and move you forward to the original plan of God in Jesus mighty name. This month of December will be the month to Remember for good things. (AMEN)

Happy new montn from Adenike Salako Blog's World.

Are Your Dishes Making You ill/Sick?

A chemical called melamine that's found in some dishware might raise your risk for kidney stones, a small new study suggests.

"Melamine is a chemical used widely in industry and found in many household products," notes one expert not connected to the study, Dr. Kenneth Spaeth.

"For consumers, one of the most common sources of exposure to melamine is from kitchenware, including plates, bowls, mugs, et cetera, as melamine has long been known to migrate from these into food," says Spaeth, who is director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.

Spaeth notes that both higher temperatures (from hot soups, for example) or more acidic foods can encourage melamine to contaminate food, especially in older or low-quality kitchenware.

The new Taiwanese study included 12 healthy men and women who ate hot noodle soup from either a melamine or ceramic bowl. Urine samples were collected from the participants for 12 hours after they ate the soup.

Three weeks later, the participants consumed the same kind of soup, but the type of bowl they used was reversed. Urine samples were collected again.

Total melamine levels in urine for 12 hours after eating the soup was 8.35 micrograms when the participants ate out of the melamine bowls versus about 1.3 micrograms when they ate out of ceramic bowls.

"Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods. The amount of melamine released into food and beverages from melamine tableware varies by brand, so the results of this study of one brand may not be generalized to other brands," a team led by Chia-Fang Wu, of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, wrote in the study.

They added that it's not yet clear what effect all of this might have on human health. However, prior studies have linked chronic, low-dose melamine exposures to an increased risk for kidney stones in both children and adults, the researchers said.

The study was published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Would melamine absorbed into the body via food cause harm? According to Spaeth, "There is little human health data to adequately characterize the risk such exposure poses.

However, he says, "Studies of melamine toxicity in animals indicate that ingestion can cause kidney stones, kidney damage, and may induce cancer."

Spaeth says that since scientists really have no clear idea as to the level of the danger, if any, it is "not unreasonable to try and reduce one's exposure [to melamine]" by avoiding using melamine-containing kitchenware.

He adds that the same advice would apply to other plastics chemicals suspected of causing harm to humans, such as phthalates and bisphenol-A.

"Avoid storing food in these products, and avoid putting these in the microwave to heat food," Spaeth advises. The most notorious episode involving melamine occurred in 2008, when the chemical was found to be widespread and at high levels in milk and baby formula fed to babies in China.

Culled from:NewsMaxHealth.com

THE POWER OF A KIND WORDS

Kind words can do so many things. They can affirm, show appreciation, praise, support, give feedback, paint word pictures, brainstorm, share details of an event, write love notes and love our mate and his or her children. These are only a few ways to create intimate communication.

But every one of these takes a conscious choice to communicate with kindness. Even when you’re in the midst of a stressful situation—or angry as a hornet—you can still maintain the right heart attitude as you convey information, discuss difficult topics and even vent.
In whatever situation you are in, you can show your respect, support and love by consciously choosing your words and speaking them with a kind and loving attitude. Yes, it takes diligence and restraint, but if you choose to be careful about what you say and how you say it, you can succeed, even in the toughest situation.         
Caring for the Other

Kind communication is other-centered and honest. Using “І” statements instead of the accusatory “You” statements is a simple way to communicate well.
Instead of saying, “You never clean the counter,” you can say, “I feel unappreciated when I have to always clean the kitchen counter.” It’s a simple twist with a big reward. The listener feels empathy for you, instead of feeling accused by you. 
For both Dale and I, this type of communication takes a conscious effort since we didn’t learn it as we grew up. We have to choose to be careful about what we say, and we try to avoid saying things that will hurt the other.
Though there are times when one of says something that irritates the other, we try to assess if we really need to address it or whether we need to let it go. Our motto is: “If we can’t say something nice, just don’t say it!”
Listening to the Other
Intentionally listening to someone shows you love and care about him or her. It takes concentration, acceptance, empathy and choosing to care enough to hear what’s behind the words. When you hear your future mate’s heart, understand his or her message, and accept each other with all his or her shortcomings, you create a place of safety, a place to build and mature as individuals and as a couple.

Many of us have never really learned to listen well. We’ve learned to be selective listeners—sifting information, ignoring details, and allowing ourselves to be distracted by everything around us.
In today’s media-driven world, we are often living on information overload. We have concerns at work, at home, with the kids, with friends, in our community, in our nation and around the world. That breeds distraction, and we have to proactively be careful not to allow the cares of the world to break down our relationships; we have to choose to listen carefully to those we love.
To listen well, you have to be considerate of the other person’s need to communicate with you. That means you have to choose to shut out the distractions around you and engage with that person with your whole being—your eyes, ears and heart. You need to give them your undivided attention. Sometimes just shutting off the music or muting the television shows interest and respect for the other and contributes to good communication. Other times, it might take going for a walk together or a drive to get away from the distractions of home.

Dale and I still struggle with this. We might be in separate rooms or even on separate floors, but we somehow think the other will magically tune in to what the other is saying. Over time, we’ve begun to recognize times when we’re best suited to talk and share, and the times when we’re not.
We’ve learned that when we are driving in traffic, it’s hard for us to concentrate on a deep discussion. Dale also knows that when I’m in my writing mode and on the computer, it’s hard for me to listen well or try to have a discussion. We laugh about it. We try to do better. But the reality is that we’re still working on improving our listening skills and changing our tendency to try to communicate when the other is busy or distracted.

Your objective is to find the right time to talk and then find out what he or she is really trying to say. It helps if once you’ve heard the person, you then verify what he or she actually said is really what you heard.
You have to be continually intentional to be good, kind communicators and listeners, because good communication takes a lifetime. So never stop working at it; that’s what matters.

BY Susan G. Mathis