The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

161. CHILDREN “When Jesus said you have to enter the kingdom like a child, He meant you have to enter with a child’s trust, not with a child’s understanding.”
— Unknown
162. HEART, SOUL AND MIND “That expression “heart, soul, and mind” that we’re so familiar with is an idiom. It’s a way of saying love God with everything you have. Heart our affections. Soul our will. Mind our intentions. That is a wholehearted love for God.”
Excerpt From: Byron Forrest Yawn. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him.”
163. OPTIMISM “Optimistic people see blessings amid burdens. They realize the sun always breaks through sooner or later. It refuses to be defined by the presence of dark clouds. After all, the dark clouds are nothing but mist; the sun is built to last.”
Excerpt From: Jeremiah, David. “Searching for Heaven on Earth.”
164. DISCIPLINED INVESTING “There’s an old saying: don’t just do something, stand there. When dealing with investments there is often this feeling that we should be doing something. A lack of action implies we’re missing an opportunity or making a mistake. Cultivating a garden takes lots of hard work, but at some point you have to let the plants grow. If you have a plan, let it work.”
Excerpt From: Richards, Carl. “The Behavior Gap.”
165. ACTION “From thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting is often but a single step” –G Washington.
166. LAWS AND MORALS “The Twenty-first Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933, and alcohol sale and consumption went back to being local and state concerns. The debacle led millions of Evangelicals to drop out of politics for decades afterward. Prohibition reminds us of the dangers of using the federal government to enforce private morality. Still, our laws will always reflect, to some degree, our moral beliefs, our religious and cultural ideas.
At the same time, laws shape our morality. Scholars refer to this as the teaching function of law.”
Excerpt From: James Robison & Jay W. Richards. “Indivisible.”
167. WHY AMERICA GREAT “I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors … in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” — De Tocqueville
168. EDUCATION “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. “For enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm,” James Madison noted
in The Federalist Papers. He also pointed out in a speech to the Virginia ratifying convention on June 16, 1788, that “there are more instances of the
abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

Excerpt From: Ben Carson, M.D. “America the Beautiful.”
169. ENEMIES “One of the great arts of living is that you hear truth in the mouth of your enemies, that you let your critics be the unpaid guardians of your soul…..search for the diamonds of truth in the dunghill of men’s opinions.”
Excerpt From: Mansfield, Stephen. “Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men.”
170. SIX LIFE PUZZLERS
• Why is it easier to criticize than to compliment?
• Why is it easier to give others blame than to give them credit?
• Why is it that so many who are quick to make suggestions find it so difficult
to make decisions?
• Why can’t we realize that it only weakens those we want to help when we do
things for them that they should do for themselves?
• Why is it so much easier to allow emotions rather than reason to control our
decisions?
• Why does the person with the least to say usually take the longest to say it?”
Excerpt From: Wooden, John. “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections
On and Off the Court.”