CHAPTER ONE:

Circumstances are where you are right now.
Choices are what you will make.
Consequences are what will happen as a result.

Sometimes your circumstances are the consequence of your choices. But not always.

The circumstances of your birth and your childhood, such as your nationality and your ethnicity, or whether or not your family had money, are not a consequence of any choice you made.

It is foolish to feel pride about circumstances that are not the result of your choices.
It is foolish to feel shame about circumstances that are not the result of your choices.

CHAPTER TWO:

Will you allow yourself to choose contentment? Or do you believe contentment is shameful?

What is it about
their native discontentment,
their refusal to be satisfied,
their undying hunger for more,
that makes us admire the ambitious person?

Contentment is a choice, not a consequence.

CHAPTER THREE:

Guilt is about what you have done.
Shame is about who you are.

Guilt is the consequence of a choice you made,
but shame is usually related to circumstances.
It is foolish to feel shame about circumstances
that are not the result of your choices.

Feelings of guilt are beneficial when they cause you to make better choices in the future. Then, when you make those better choices, you are no longer who you were. So let the shame go. It isn’t yours anymore.

It is foolish to continue feeling shame when you are no longer the person you were.

CHAPTER FOUR:

Guilt is inevitable because you will make a mistake, do the wrong thing, miss the mark. But shame is a choice.

You choose shame when you continue to do what you know is wrong.

May I suggest you make a new choice?

CHAPTER FIVE:

You can evaluate a man’s ethics by the condition in which he leaves a public restroom.

I don’t know how to evaluate the ethics of women.

CHAPTER SIX:

The shepherds were the first to hear the good news, “All is forgiven.”
The wise men had to figure it out on their own.

The shepherds saw angels in the sky, proclaiming.
The wise men saw a star in the sky, and somehow knew what it meant.

teachers, nurses, caretakers, guardians,

quote: …found out how to serve

quote:  “with a tear in his eye, ‘Come to Jesus.'”  C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock

quote: Do you see a man who is skilled in his work? He will stand before kings.