01/21/2025
On my desk, I have a plethora of sticky notes with quotes I’ve compiled over the past few years. Every so often, I’ll add a new quote that speaks to my heart and mind. So, I thought it was time to share some of my favorite quotes and not hoard these gems just for myself. Think of this as an “uninspired” but inspiring list of modern-day proverbs. Maybe one or two of these quotes will speak to your heart and mind as well.
“If you let success go to your head, failure will go to your heart” (Tim Keller).
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking less about yourself” (Tim Keller).
“Do not let the light on you shine brighter than the light in you” (Tim Keller).
“The most important gauge of our success will not be our numbers or even our impact but our fidelity to our Savior” (Tactics).
“I was doing the work of the Lord without knowing the Lord of the work” (Henry Cloud).
“The problem with pastors is that they have never cried in front of a small group” (Henry Cloud).
“People admire your strengths, but they identify with your weaknesses” (Henry Cloud).
“We were together. I forget the rest” (Walt Whitman).
“Life is understood backwards, but it must be lived forward” (Soren Kierkegaard).
“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” (G.K. Chesterton).
“The only way a man can remain consistent amid changing circumstances is to change with them while preserving the same dominating purpose” (Winston Churchill).
“Some think you become great on the big stage under the bright lights. But the light only reveals the work you did in the dark” (Jeff Bajenaru).
“Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” (Thomas Edison).
“The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity” (Dallas Willard).
“Leaders have to be the midwife of the pain of the birth of new things” (Jon McClarnon).
“You may think your situation is impossible, but that’s where God does His best work” (The Deconstruction of Christianity).
“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is neat, plausible, and wrong” (H.L. Mencken).
“The crucible of our formation is in the monotony of our daily routines” (Liturgy of the Ordinary).
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent” (RARE Leadership).
“Remain relational. Act like yourself. Return to joy. Endure hardship” (RARE Leadership).
“Don’t judge a day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you sow” (Robert Louis Stevenson).
“The first duty of a Christian is to make the invisible kingdom visible” (John Calvin).
“In the 1930s the German church mostly turned a blind eye to the rise of the Nazis. Dietrich Bonhoeffer admonished the church not to become a `private sanctuary of virtue.’ May we receive that admonishment today” (Letter to the American Church).
I close with these two powerful reminders:
“The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up” (My Utmost for His Highest).
“The Lord replied, `My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest’” (Exodus 33:14).
I pray 2025 will be a year where God’s presence is with you, and He will give you rest. Amen.
