A Tribute To Collected Wisdom

While I always have a book on my bedside table, waiting to be to read before I go to sleep, rarely do I have one that so absorbs my mind that sleep eludes me while I continue to turn pages. Richard Paul Evans' novel The Gift is one.

The Gift is admirable not just for its inspiring story, but also for the collected wisdom he puts into excerpts from the journal of Nathan Hurst, the story's protagonist, observer of life and receiver of "the gift" that makes him feel his life has value and meaning. (Before that he listened to others who treated him as a murderer.)

You can learn more about The Gift and the many other best sellers by this multi-award winning author from his web site at http://richardpaulevans.com

What I want to tweak your interest with is a few of those journal excerpts, one of which begins each chapter of the book. They stand on their own. As you read them, take a moment to consider each after allowing it to imprint on your brain. Each has a special value that deserves your consideration.

Having completed your read, consider that Richard Paul Evans has Tourette's syndrome and chronic tic disorder. Tourette's is "an inherited neurological disorder characterized by physical and vocal tics." The fact that Evans is a much sought after public speaker gives evidence that he has overcome a great deal.
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I don't believe society has ever grown more tolerant. It just changes targets.
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It's one thing to order an execution, it's a whole different matter to swing the axe.
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I feel like I've been handed a prize orchid. And I can't make a weed grow.
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Sometimes I think all I have ever known are McRelationships.
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The most important story we will ever write in life is our own--not with ink, but with our daily choices.
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I just want to get through life without ending up as a cautionary tale.
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I struggled to get out of bed this morning. I think I had an emotional hangover.
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Sometimes I wonder if it's not so much that we intend to do harm as we don't intend not to.
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Today Addison [Hurst's love interest] told me she loves me. I wasn't sure how to respond. I haven't much experienced with that sort of thing.
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To the thief, everyone's a crook. To the liar, everyone's a fraud. The curse of all sin is the mirror of false perception it traps us in.
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Heroes rarely look the way we draw them in our minds: attractive, imposing figures with rippling muscles and strong chins. More times than not they are humble beings: small and flawed. It's only their sprits that are beautiful and strong.
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I believe that the difference between Heaven and Hell is not so much the climate as the company. Living in a world populated by people like themselves would, for many, be Heaven. And for others, it would, indeed, be Hell.
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It is one thing to take joy in a child's achievements and quite another to aggrandize ourselves through them. It is emotional incest to live vicariously through a child's success.
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Small kindnesses often, unintentionally, produce the biggest payoffs.
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I feel spiritually cleansed and happy just reading these.

Bill Allin
Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems, a guidebook for parents and teachers who want to teach life lessons to children before they need them, instead of trying to fix broken adults.
Learn more at http://billallin.com