Inspiration

If with pleasure you are viewing
Any work a man is doing,
If you like him or you love him tell him now.

Don't withhold your approbation
Till the parson makes oration
And he lies with snowy lilies on his brow,

For no matter how you shout it
He won't really care about it
He won't know how many teardrops you have shed

So if some praise is due him
Now's the time to slip it to him
For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead.

More than fame and more than money
Is the comment kind and sunny
And the hearty warm approval of a friend,

For it gives to life a savor
And it makes you stronger, braver,
And it gives you heart and courage to the end.

If he earns your praise, bestow it
If you like him, let him know it
Let the words of true encouragement be said.

Do not wait till life is over
And he's underneath the clover,
For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead.

~ Berton Braley (1882-1966)

King Henry IV of France once asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the great eclipse of the sun that had recently occurred.

"No," said the duke, "I have so much to do on the earth that I have no leisure to look up into heaven."

Commenting on this, Thomas Brooks said, "It is sad to think how heart and time are so taken up with earthly things that we have no leisure to look to Christ and the things that belong to everlasting peace."

Yes, how foolish is the person who caters entirely to this temporal world! It gives only momentary pleasure, and cannot bring the eternal rewards of Heaven. Jesus told us, "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6)

"Even the Sun appeared hideous, so that scarcely a third part of it gave light, I believe on account of such deeds of wickedness and the shedding of innocent blood."
- Gregorius Turonensis (referring to the solar eclipse of 24 February AD 453, when Attila the Hun was raiding Italy).

Times of victory bring opportunities for failure.