The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Interpretation
True support involves empowering others to handle their challenges rather than removing those challenges.
Phillips Brooks emphasizes the importance of resilience and personal strength in facing hardships. Rather than simply alleviating someone's struggles, true help lies in encouraging and nurturing an individual’s capacity to cope with adversity, thereby allowing them to develop inner strength and confidence.
In practice
During a community meeting on mental health, you can quote this to highlight the importance of empowering individuals to manage their own challenges.
The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
It is almost as presumptuous to think you can do nothing as to think you can do everything.
Knowledge is great. Competence is great. But the combination of both encourages people to trust you and increases your powers of enchantment. And in this world, the combination is a breath of fresh air.
We cannot have a world where everyone is a victim. "I'm this way because my father made me this way. I'm this way because my husband made me this way." Yes, we are indeed formed by traumas that happen to us. But you must take charge, you must take over, you are responsible.
Don't let anybody walk through your mind with dirty feet.
Master your words. Master your thoughts. Never allow your body to do harm. Follow these three roads with purity And you will find yourself upon the one way, The way of wisdom.
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.
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