And if the criticized person takes it quietly without rancor, not striking back but constantly loving, he will gather in friends faster than his crit… - Norman Vincent Peale

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. . . . 1 JOHN 5:3–4 AUGUST 23 Christianity has often been made out to be a soft kind of thing, something pleasant and nice. But Christianity is the toughest religion ever formulated in the history of the world. What is its symbol? Its symbol is a cross. Not one of those chaste gold crosses that hangs around a lady’s neck, but a tough crossbeam of wood — splintery and hard. That is the symbol of Christianity. This may sound oratorical and poetic, but it isn’t. It is practical through and through. It is what we must do now as a nation: this country will have to get back to a strong belief in the authority of government under God and have an enormous spiritual buildup if it is going to survive the confusions of our time. It is also what we need as individuals. Christianity is a tremendous religion, for it makes tremendous people who, when the going is not-so-good, know what to do. They just draw nearer to God and keep on keeping on — and victory comes.

When you change your thoughts, remember to also change your world

Although the life-changing power of positive thinking is available to all, some people experience difficulty in making it work. This is because of some strange psychological barrier that stands between them and the full use of positive thinking? One that keeps cropping up, is simply that they do not want it to work. They do not want to succeed. Actually, they are afraid to succeed. It’s easier to wallow in self-pity. So, we create our own failure, and when a suggestion ( such as positive thinking) comes along that will help overcome that failure, we subconsciously see to it that the suggestion doesn’t work, and so we