Inspirational Quotes for the WEEKEND

By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa

Attending an event yesterday, the host stated that he has had much respect for the late singer and king of Pop , Michael Jackson. He said the singer sang a song that touched his heart and still has a lot of meaning in his life, about personal change. How and what the process of changing the world and oneself involve. The second thing from the singer was he mentioned about humans taking care of nature as a message that was expounded in several of Michael Jackson\’s songs and to pick one, \’Heal the World.\’ This piece of write-up will discuss the first issue of personal change.

Often people complain about things that are going wrong without taking stock of themselves regarding what part they are playing to change things and or to diffuse, correct the situation. In the song \’Man in the Mirror\’, late Michael Jackson advises that the best is to start by looking at yourself and you may realise that perhaps to change things, you need firstly to change your own ways. He figuratively uses the song lines of the individual looking in the mirror on their own image and realising that they might not have done a soul search of themselves before complaining of situations they deem are wrong or unfavourable.

Of course self criticism is not an art that is for the average person. There is now as we speak, a full course of study in modern education about it. On a deeper level this is referred to as Emotional Intelligence. Thus when a person is constantly able to question themselves on every one of their actions including the emotions they are feeling at any one time, by examining such and coming up with possible causes. For instance for those who constantly get angry, they would every time that emotion of anger pops up, examine what is causing it. Quite often it may not be the thing or person immediately in front of them, but others triggers including past pain. Life is about guarding our feelings, not only taking good care of the physical body outside which is only a vehicle, but also the soul inside, the actual person.

The quotes this week are from a book which narrates some of the most significant points in time that have shaped the world as we know it today. I am sure the selected quotations below from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons, read and enjoy:

TURNING POINTS by Mark A. Noll

\”Two large difficulties stand in the way of interpreting the nature of this early history. First is the fact that hard evidence for a half century or so from the end of the New Testament era is scarce. Historians and theologians are thus required to fill in with imagination, speculation, or informed hunches what went on between the era illuminated by the New Testament and the period from about 110, when the flow of evidence, though at first only a trickle, begins again.\”

\”These are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take aught from these. … – Athanasius on the Canon (AD 367).\”

\”The perception of the world as an active, ever-tumultuous scene of spiritual combat also fueled the monastic surge. Especially in the Egypt of early monasticism, but also throughout most of the early church, believers were deeply fascinated by demons, angels, and conflict between spiritual forces in high places. The way that monasticism deployed this largely biblical picture of the world was that monks, as full-time ascetics, were widely considered to be the only ones spiritually fit enough to contribute directly in that struggle. Early accounts of Antony featured his wrestling with demons and the ungodly passions they incited. Such emphases remained a potent spur to monasticism throughout its earliest centuries.\”

 \”Differences among Christians are more interesting (at least to Christians) because they occur among people who agree that early church practices, writings, and activities have a divine as well as a human source. Such differences grow out of alternative understandings of the Christian faith. In turn, these differences of broad theological perspective shape the understanding of the evidence available from the early church.\”