Do Your Best

"When Leonardo da Vinci was still a pupil, his elderly, well-known teacher asked him to finish a painting that he, the teacher, had begun.

"Young da Vinci stood in such awe of his master's skill that at first he respectfully declined. But his teacher would accept no excuse. He simply said, 'Do your best.' Trembling, da Vinci took his brush and began. With each stroke, his hand grew steadier as the genius within him awoke. Soon he was so caught up in his work that he forgot his timidity. When the painting was finished, the frail and weak master was carried into the studio to see it. Embracing his student, he exclaimed, 'My son, I paint no more!'

Not everyone has the kind of talent and genius that Leonardo da Vinci had, but every one of us has God-given talents that he wants us to develop. He never expects from us what he hasn't gifted us to do. And he has already equipped us to do what He wants us to do. So use what talents you possess. Do your best and leave the rest to God. As Henry van Dyke said, "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

Dear God

thank you

for the talents

you have given to me.

 

Please help me

to see what they are,

develop them fully,

and use them

to the best of my ability

 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

Outrunning Who ?

It's an old story but worth repeating: Two friends are hiking in the woods when they come upon a menacing-looking bear walking directly toward them. When one fellow starts to slowly remove his backpack, the other whispers, "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to run for it," was his reply.

"But you can't outrun a bear," his pal protested.

"I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you."

As Michael Josephson said in his weekly column, "Everywhere we see people living their lives according to this Darwinian law of the jungle. They see everything as a competition just to find the most extreme tactics to assure their own survival. You've heard the rationales: 'It's a dog-eat-dog world,' 'Eat or be eaten,' 'You've got to look out for Number One.'"

Wrong! These people end up only outrunning themselves—even if it is eventually!

People who believe in and live by this dog-eat-dog philosophy will die by this philosophy. As it has been said, "Those who live by the sword will die by the sword." And what is the point of being the richest or most successful person in the grave ? The reality is that we can't take what we gained with us when we die.

But if we honor others, we can send ahead all that we have legitimately gained—as an investment in eternity—and therein store up riches in heaven.

Dear God

please deliver me

from ever participating

in this 'dog-eat-dog' mentality and practice.

 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.

Where Are the Nine ?

"You probably read about Paddy who was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place.

"Looking up to heaven he said, 'Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish whiskey.'

"Miraculously, a parking place appeared.

"Paddy looked up again and said, 'Never mind, I found one.'"

While we make jokes about such things, I wonder how often I pray, God answers, and I forget to say thank you … or fail to even see that God has answered my prayer because it wasn't in the way that I expected it to be.

The fact is, when my prayer is sincere from the heart, God always hears and answers it. Sometimes the answer is "Yes," sometimes it is "No," and sometimes it is "Wait a while." And sometimes it is in a way that is totally different from what I expected.

The important thing is that we always thank God for hearing and answering our prayers regardless of the way in which they are answered, because God always knows what is best for us.

Dear God
thank you
that you always hear
and answer my prayers
in one way or another.
May I always have a grateful heart
and learn to thank you regardless of the way
in which you answer my prayer.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

The Power of Tears

Walter Wangerin in his book, The Manger Is Empty, "has a wonderful story, called 'Matthew, Seven, Eight, and Nine' about how he tried to stop his son Matthew from stealing comic books. He tried various uses of the law over several years and continued to fail. Finally, he resorted to something he rarely used: a spanking. He did it deliberately, almost ritualistically, and he was so upset when he finished that he left the room and wept. After pulling himself back together, he went in to Matthew and hugged him. 

"A number of years later, Matthew and his mother were doing some general reminiscing, and Matthew happened to bring up the time when he kept stealing comic books. 'And you know why I finally stopped?' he asked. 'Sure,' she said, 'because Dad finally spanked you.' 'No!' replied Matthew, 'No, because Dad cried.'

Dear God

thank you 

that you know 

and understand me 

more than anyone else ever could, 

and that you care deeply for me. 

Please help me 

to grasp the fullness 

of your love and concern 

and learn to trust in you 

implicitly no matter what. 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

Discipline vs. Punishment

Nine-year-old Al had disobeyed his father who, as a strict disciplinarian, sent him with a note to a police station in London. When Al came in late after curfew, his father met him at the door and handed him a note and said, "Take it to the jailhouse."

Al was terrified.

"The officer, a friend of his father, opens the note, reads it, and nods,. 'Follow me.' He leads the wide-eyed youngster to a jail cell, opens the door, and tells him to enter. The officer clangs the door shut. 'This is what we do to naughty boys,' he explains and walks away ... The jail sentence lasts only five minutes. But those five minutes felt like five months. Al never forgot that day. The sound of the clanging door, he often told people, stayed with him the rest of his life.

"The fear of losing a father's love exacts a high toll. Al spent the rest of his life hearing the clanging door. That early taste of terror contributed to his lifelong devotion to creating the same in others. For Al—Alfred Hitchcock—made a career out of scaring people."

True, discipline is important, but it always needs to fit the crime. Some children are impaired for life because of severe punishment as a child. Others are left terrified if they were beaten severely or abused. It is imperative that parents never discipline out of anger because that is punishment, not discipline. Discipline always needs to be in love. 

Those whom God loves, he disciplines in love—not punishes in anger. We need to do the same with our children.

Dear God
thank you that when you discipline me
it is always out of your love for me and for my good

Help me
to do the same
when disciplining my children.
May it always be in love and never out of anger.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

Three Great Abilities

Three of life's greatest abilities are dependability, responsibility, and availability.

First: Dependability, among many things, is keeping one's word. It's doing what we say we are going to do. It's keeping the commitments we make. It is being authentic; for instance, sometimes, instead of saying what we truly feel and want, we say what we think others want to hear to be "nice," and then we do the opposite, which is far from being nice. It's being dishonest. Such a person cannot be trusted or depended on.

Second: Responsibility; that is, realizing that I am totally responsible for what I say, for what I want, for what I feel, for what I do or don't do, for getting my needs met in healthy ways, and for every area of my life.

Unless I am handicapped, no matter what happened to me in the past relationally, if it were negative, I am responsible for what I do about it and for what I become. As another has wisely said, "I may have been a victim in the past, but if I remain a victim, I am now a willing volunteer."

As long as I fail to accept personal responsibility for my life and blame anybody else for the difficulties I have, I will never overcome them. That is, if I keep playing the blame-game, I will B-LAME!

Third: Availability. If I want my life to be fulfilling and meaningful, I need to be available for my family, for having a part in worthwhile causes (without being obsessive), and for being available to participate in God's work here on earth. As I have shared on a number of occasions, when it comes to being involved in God's work, every morning I pray the following prayer of commitment: "Dear God, again today I'm available, please make me usable." I encourage you to also pray this prayer at the beginning of every day.

Dear God
please help me
to become the person
you want me to be,
to always be dependable,
responsible, and available for you
to use to have a part in what you are doing in the world today

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

The Power of Courage

When she was only nineteen months of age, Helen Keller suffered an illness that left her blind and deaf. Soon she was unable to speak. By the age of seven she was extremely frustrated by her inability to communicate. Fortunately, her parents were able to hire a 20-year-old teacher to come and live with them.

The teacher, Anne Sullivan, was a very capable and loving individual and was able to put courage into Helen by teaching her to communicate with the use of her fingers. Helen was greatly encouraged, learned to read by Braille and then read everything she could lay her hands on.

She desperately wanted to earn a university degree and, passing the entrance exams to Radcliffe, pleaded with officials to allow her to attend and bring Anne Sullivan with her to translate the lectures into her manual code. The following is part of what she wrote to the admissions office:

"I realize that the obstacles in the way of my receiving a college education are very great—to others they may seem insurmountable; but, dear Sir, a true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle."

Helen was admitted and graduated with high honors. She then spent the rest of her life helping to improve the lot of and put courage into other handicapped people at home and around the world.

Indeed, "A true soldier does not acknowledge defeat before the battle!" A good word for today.

Dear God

please give me 

the courage 

to face any and all battles 

that may come my way 

knowing that you are with me 

and will never leave me or forsake me. 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

OLD PICTURES- Nostalgia

OLD PICTURES- Nostalgia

 

Rana Liaquat, wife of Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, with famous American animator, film-maker 

and entrepreneur, Walt Disney, in 1951. 

Broadcaster, Mustafa Ali, announcing the creation of Pakistan on the radio at 12 am, August 14, 1947. 

Fatima Jinnah, sister of the founder of Pakistan, Muhamad Ali Jinnah, playing with her dog at

 her residence in Karachi in 1959. 

US Vice President, Richard Nixon, writing his comments on the visitors’ book at Radio Pakistan’s Karachi station in 

the 1950s. With him is famous Pakistani radio personality, Z A. Bokhari. 

A hotel and pub in Karachi’s Malir area. 

A traffic constable directing traffic near the famous Metropole Hotel in Karachi in 1960. Today the hotel serves as 

a wedding hall and parking lot. 

A 1962 tourism poster for Karachi. 

Pilots and cabin crew of a PIA flight meet Chinese revolutionary leader and Premier, Zhou Enla (early 1960s). 

A 1963 ad for the Tudor cigarette brand. Tudor was launched by the Pakistan Tobacco Company specifically to target 

the market of women smokers in Pakistan. 

European tourists take a walk at Lahore’s Shalimar Gardens, 1966.

Current Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, poses with his car as a young man in late 1960s. 

Pakistanis and tourists wine and dine at Karachi’s Beach Luxury Hotel in 1969. 

Chairman PIA, Nur Khan, hosts a party of the airline’s staff in late 1960s. Under Khan, PIA rose to become one 

of the top 10 airlines in the world.

A 1969 press ad of Pakistan’s Murree Beer. 

A bar, restaurant and ballroom in Swat, 1970. 

Former Pakistan military dictator, General Yayah Khan having dinner with famous Pakistani singer, Noor Jehan in 1969. 

Yayah was having an affair with the popular vocalist and former actress. 

The cover of a 1967 issue of the National Geographic. It had a special photo feature on Pakistan’s tourist resorts, 

wildlife and politics. The cover shows two Pakistani women on a swing. One’s from a village in the Punjab (part of West Pakistan)

 and the other from a village in the Bengali-dominated East Pakistan. 

A winning candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) during the 1970 General Election. The PPP swept the election in the 

Punjab and Sindh provinces of West Pakistan. 

Nadeem sharafi,s Jeep Infront of The famous Taj Mahel Cinema in Karachi, 1970. It was torn down and turned into 

an apartment block in the 1980s. 

One of the first Pakistani pop stars, Alamgir, in Karachi (1973). 

A tourist tries to navigate a treacherous road in Dir, 1972, in the former NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). 

A cinema house in Peshawar, 1972. 

Natives of a Sindhi village drench a European tourist with cold water from a well to beat the summer heat (1973). 

Young American and European tourists with locals at a restaurant in Ziarat, Balochistan, in 1973. 

Students outside the Arts Lobby at the Karachi University in 1974. 

Famous Pakistani painter, Jamil Naqsh, with a model in Karachi in 1974. 

Pakistani Christians pose outside a church in Lahore in 1975. 

An all-girl Iranian pop band that toured Pakistan, with famous Iranian singer Madam Gagosh in 1974. 

 Western tourists wait at a bus stand in Sibi, Balochistan (1975).

 

 

A 1975 press ad for one of Pakistan’s largest selling cigarette brand, Red & White. 

Western tourists enjoying a few rounds at a restaurant Karachi’s Tariq Road, 1975. 

Tourism peaked in Pakistan in 1974-75. Over a million tourists passed through or landed in Pakistan between these two years.

 The government declared tourism to be an industry. To mark the occasion, the Ministry of Tourism issued a special 

stamp to celebrate Pakistan becoming a popular tourist spot in the South Asian region. 

A PTV host interviewing world wrestling champion, Anokhi (from Japan) who arrived in Karachi in the late 1970s to 

compete with Pakistan’s famous wrestlers, the Bholu Brothers. 

Begum Nusrat Bhutto kissing her daughter, Benazir Bhutto, in Karachi’s Mid East Hospital, 1978. Benazir was arrested by 

the Zia regime after he toppled her father, Z A. Bhutto’s government in July 1977. She developed a serious ear infection in jail 

and was finally shifted to the hospital for an operation. She was shifted back to jail after the operation. 

Famous progressive Urdu poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, with legendary Indian actor, Dilip Kumar, 1979. 

LP cover of Nazia and Zoheb Hassan’s first album, ‘Disco Dewane’ (1980). 

One of the first batches of the ‘Afghan Mujahideen’ arrives in the tribal areas of Pakistan, 1980. 

Front page of the (now defunct) Pakistani English daily, The Muslim. It has a photo and story on the Pope’s first ever visit of Pakistan

 in 1981. The 

   Pope held a rally at Karachi’s National Stadium. 

Future US President, Barak Obama with a Pakistani friend in 1982

 

Mr. Obama US President with his friend Mr. Nadeem Sharafi and Ms Jane Shakaowksi, US Senator in Chicago - 2005

Western tourists near the Attock Bridge in Punjab in 1982. 

Famous American film actor and star, Robert Di Nero (left) during a pleasure trip in Chitral, north Pakistan. 

Popular revolutionary poet, Habib Jalib, being manhandled by the police during an anti-Zia rally in Lahore in 1981. 

The premier of ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’ at Karachi’s Nishat Cinema, 1984. In 2012, the cinema was burned down 

by religious fanatics. 

Passengers at the Karachi Airport are shifted to another plane after a Pan Am flight they were on was hijacked by Arab terrorists and 

forced to land in 

   Karachi in 1986. Pakistani commandos stormed the plane and shot dead the hijackers.

 Some of the passengers were also killed in the crossfire.

 

    

The Pakistan Cricket team celebrate the winning of its first major trophy, Sharjah, 1986. (from Left): Abdul Qadir, Mohsin Kamal,

 Javed Miandad, Mansoor Ilahi, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Mansoor Akhtar. 

Future Pakistani Test captain, Misbah-ul-Haq with trophy at school, 1987. 

Benazir Bhutto waves to the crowd at her wedding reception in Lyari, Karachi in 1986. 

Hosts joke during PTV’s marathon transmission of the 1988 General Eelection. Benazir Bhutto won the election. 

Legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, arrives at a college in Lahore during his 1988 visit to Pakistan. 

A 1989 magazine centrefold of Pakistan’s deadly pace attack of the late 1980s: Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, 

Waqar Younis and 

   Aqib Javed. 

Pakistani pop band, The Strings in 1989. They were part of the first wave of new Pakistani pop bands that dominated 

the charts in the 1990s. 

Pioneers of the new wave of Pakistani pop music, the Vital Signs in 1989. 

MQM Chief, Altaf Hussain, at MQM member, Farooq Sattar’s wedding in Karachi.