Dinosaurs and salads

From Father Brian D’Arcy, a Catholic Passionist priest:

An encouraging listener sent me a short note after last Monday’s PFT.

“Here’s what I heard you say to me,” she wrote. ‘It’s brilliant when you realise this a brand new day with no mistakes in yet.’ Thanks.”

I didn’t say it as well as she did, but that’s what I meant. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Here’s another way of looking at it. Did anyone ever ask you ‘What’s right with you?’ But I’ll bet thousands have asked you ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Yet those two questions evoke totally different reactions. One motivates you and the other doesn’t. One gives you energy, the other flattens you.

I see it when I’m with young adults and, even more so, with struggling sports people. You can cause a mental block in a boxer’s head by saying-: “Your jab is way too slow.” But if a trainer says –“Let’s see how we can get that great jab you have to travel twice as fast,” he’ll have a point scoring machine in a week.

Catch people doing something right and praise them and you’ll convince them that there are no wrong turns on the road of life, just unexpected paths to explore.

Philosophers say we don’t get to choose how we’re going to die. You can only decide how you’re going to live now.

There’s a legend in Australia that one group of Aborigines was able to make rain with their mystical dancing. When a neighbouring community was suffering from a never-ending drought, they pleaded with the group to help. The rainmakers willingly obliged.

When their dancing was over, the rains came. The leader went to the dancers to thank them and he asked “Why is it that every time you dance it rains?” The chief replied, “It’s very simple. We dance until it rains.”

The principle is clear then. Shine a light on what is good and keep on doing it.

It’s in the Bible. “Don’t grow weary of doing good… you’ll reap the harvest when the time is right.” (Gal 6:9)