Craig D. Lounsbrough

I am selfish by habit, but sacrificial by nature. Therefore, I__ be wise to develop the habit of following my nature.

My worth is not based on the __ork of my hands_ despite how feverishly I might work and how audaciously successful I might be. Rather, my worth is based exclusively on the astonishing fact that I am the __ork of God__ hands.

Instinct is all of our humanity being deliberately honest with all of life.

More often than not, the foolishness of our humanity drives us to destroy the very things that we need to keep ourselves from destroying ourselves. And because that__ the case, God will never allow us to destroy Christmas.

We are not built for mediocrity, but we build it into our lives nonetheless.

To fall down is to face the weakness of my humanity, test the mettle of my character, and push the limits of my strength. Therefore, falling down will tell me who I am far more clearly than most things I might learn when I__ standing up.

It__ not that I can__ remember. It__ that I prefer not to remember, which means that I prefer not to remember what not remembering did to me the last time I did it.

The legacy I leave will be unimaginably enhanced by the legacies I received. Therefore, I must be wise enough to embrace the history of those who have gone before me so that I can shape the future of those who will go ahead of me.

Memory is a few lines snipped from a larger story that we are privileged to tuck away between the pages of our minds.

To forget is to render the pages of history as entirely blank, and the lessons of history as never taught.

Starting over is opportunity informed by failure, which is opportunity made intelligent.

Intelligence without wisdom is nothing more than stupidity that looks smart.

I am likely to fail if I have determined the cost as too high or my intelligence as too low. Yet, if I think about it, the real failure rests in believing either of these to be true.

Our best-laid plans are often our worst-made decisions.

To lead solely on the behalf of those being led is the utter pinnacle of fatherhood, and it is sad that so few ever stand on the summit.

Too often there is this sinister greed that pulls at my coattails, subtly whispering in the ear of my soul that it is within my rights to tuck away a few dark trinkets to toy with when the tedium of righteous living gets a bit boring. But God would suggest that I empty my pockets.

Let me be strong, for to be anything else is to languish in the abyss of compromise and to descend to places of impoverishment so destitute that they will squelch my soul and crush my heart.

I am thankful that I can be thankful, for if thankfulness did not exist my heart would be irretrievably imprisoned by the crazed twins of acquisition and possession, and my soul would exist as a forever slave to greed.