Morning Briefings

In the words of an old Irish prayer: Three wishes I ask of the King when I part from my body: May I have nothing to confess, may I have no enemy, may I own nothing! Three wishes I ask this day of the King, ruler of suns: May I have no dignity or honours that lead me into torment! May I not work without reward before Christ! May God take my soul when it is most pure!

–
Sacred Space

There’s only one despair worse than ‘God, I blew it’ — and that’s ‘God, I blew it again.’

– Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love

This is one of the most honest and frequently given excuses I hear. ‘I just don’t have the moral courage to be open about my faith.‘ By definition, moral courage means you are willing to act on your convictions even if it costs you something, such as social acceptance or convenience.

– Randy Hain
The Catholic Briefcase

I was a “silo Catholic,” you could say. Jesus was the man of Sunday, and I was the man the other six days of the week. There’s so much of this. I’m the last one to throw a stone at anyone, and so what I’m trying to do is share this journey with people.

– Andreas Widmer
from The National Catholic Register’s article Former Swiss Guard Owes Business Sense, and Faith, to John Paul II

If working a room is so much fun and so profitable, why do our hearts thump, our palms sweat and our eyes glaze over when we think about it? One reason is that 88 percent of us think of ourselves as shy.

– Susan RoAne
How to Work a Room: Your Essential Guide to Savvy Socializing

I used to think I knew everything. I was a ’smart person’ who ‘got things done,’ and because of that, the higher I climbed, the more I could look down and scoff at what seemed silly or simple, even religion. But I realized something as I drove home that night: that I am neither better nor smarter, only luckier. And I should be ashamed of thinking I knew everything, because you can know the whole world and still be lost in it.

– Mitch Albom
Have a Little Faith

There’s some things that I regret, some words I wish had gone unsaid, some starts that had some better endings. Been some bad times I’ve been through, damage I cannot undo. Some things I wish I could do all over again. Some pages turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned.

– Carrie Underwood
Lessons Learned

I’m beat up by the numbers. The pressure to produce is unbelievable. I simply don’t have the time or the resources to do it all.

– Steven R. Covey
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

Be still and know that I am God.

– Psalm 46:10

Almost two out of every three small-business owners are concerned their companies will fail by 2011, according to an online survey.

– Jan Norman on Small Business
OCRegister.com