John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, who died Saturday at the age of 99 kept a card his father gave him when he graduated from grade school.
Seven Things To Do:
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Help others.
3. Make each day your masterpiece.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessing every day.
Wooden's favorite passage from the Bible was 1 Corinthians 13.
Indeed. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
He once said, "You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
And he also loved to quote from Luke 6:38: "Give and you will receive. You will be given much. The you give to others is the way God will give to you."
Some of the simplest things in life are also the greatest.
Charity requires giving to someone else less fortunate.
Altruistic love is living a perfect day by doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
But if you give something to someone they might pass it on to someone else in some extraordinary similar fashion.
I remember when a lady gave me some clothes at a church luncheon in Fayetteville.
I saw a man who took off his shirt and I offered him a nice sweatshirt I had received that day.
A few days later I gave a man a stocking cap I'd found.
I told him that was the second time I'd helped someone out.
He told me he was the dude who'd taken his shirt off.
That kindled a friendship that will be ever lasting.
No matter your circumstances you can help others out.
It might not be much but if your heart is in the right place and the spirit of giving is truthful then God will reward you some day for your charitable heart.
That's what has happened to me.
And now I must reciprocate and be charitable.
Here's a final one to remember John Wooden by:
"Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be grateful. Conceit is self-given; be careful."
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