Spring is a time of new beginnings and growth. As greenery emerges from the gray of winter, we’re reminded of the opportunity this gives us to renew our commitment to life. So whatever good thing you can begin (or renew) today, let it live in you!
We do great work when we assist our loved ones in reaching their potential or help them to see their potential more clearly. And there aren’t many joys in life greater than watching someone reach a potential we’ve helped them to see and develop.
Our character should be one that appreciates improvement. We must learn to see the value of working toward betterment. We must gain a greater vision of what can happen when we commit ourselves to adding value to all we deal with, little by little.
We should acknowledge the virtue of quietness. “Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.” We’re too quick to dismiss the ideal of quietness, and its twin ideal of simplicity, as being outdated, and we need to get back to appreciating their goodness.
Not any of us sees everything. We need the extra vision that comes from other sets of eyes, and to the extent that we let our viewpoint be enlarged and improved by other people’s perspectives, our decisions will tend to turn out better.
The challenge in thinking is to discern, by pondering our ideas, which ones are weighty and which are not. When we’re making decisions, we need to let the weighty ideas count for more, and pay somewhat less attention to the lighter-weight trivia.
To discuss something means to examine it closely by exchanging ideas. When people discuss a matter, they speak to one another about it in an effort to ascertain truth or reach agreement. A discussion is a consideration of a topic via conversation.
We must appreciate life, certainly, but we must use it. It is to be employed as well as enjoyed. And the best employment is to use it defending and enhancing the lives of others, helping them to have a greater measure of life in all its dimensions.
A fearless commitment to truth is one of the great components of moral human character. It might even be the greatest of all. No matter what other virtues may adorn us, without a commitment to truth, everything else turns to the dust of death.
Genuine satisfaction doesn’t mean complacency; it means contentment. Satisfaction still leaves room for growth, and it knows how to aspire to greater things. But it also knows how to enjoy and be honestly grateful for present benefits.
