Morning Briefings

Phones Will Soon Tell Where You Are: Would you want other people to know, all day long, exactly where you are, right down to the street corner or restaurant? Wireless carriers are betting that many of their customers do, and they’re rolling out services to make it possible.

– Amol Sharma & Jessica E.Vascellaro
The Wall Street Journal

In addition to ignoring the issues faced by businesspeople, seminaries offer little analysis of or appreciation for the moral roots of modern corporations, the concept of business as a calling, or multiple tasks that business performs for society and the common good.

– David W. Miller
God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement

Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested. It is said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, in the language of the desert, ‘one dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

– Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist

The river makes a difference to the landscape through which it flows.

– Margaret Silf
Inner Compass

I am constantly surprised at how I keep taking the gifts God has given me–my health, my intellect and emotional gifts–and keep using them to impress people, receive affirmation and praise, and compete for rewards, instead of developing them for the glory of God. It’s almost as if I want to prove to myself and to my world that I do not need God’s love, and that I can make a life on my own.

– Henri J.M. Nouwen
The Return of the Prodigal Son

For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’

– John 4:37

It seems to me that the season of Lent and the celebration of Easter fall at the perfect time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. Easter and spring arrive together. The church asks us to imitate nature and make sure that we are giving birth to new life at Easter. No matter how old we are, there is still new life in all of us.

– Reverend James O’Leary
I Think I Am Happier Than I Think I Am

Jesus knew what he was doing when He said, Do this in memory of me, because He knew the disciples would, even if their future faith were suffering: they’d eat again, they’d at least do that, they’d share a meal again, and when they did, they’d think of Him.

– from Liam Callanan’s
All Saints

A recent survey uncovered that among those who reported they were victims of rude behavior on the job, 22 percent consciously decreased their work effort, and one of every eight people actually left their job because of it.

– Peter Post
Essential Manners for Men

As I reflect on my own journey, I become more and more aware of how long I have played the role of observer. Had I, myself, really ever dared to step into the center, kneel down, and let myself be held by a forgiving God?

– Henri J.M. Nouwen
The Return of the Prodigal Son