Quotes from Gordon MacDonald

When money is limited, one budgets. And when time is in limited supply, the same principle holds. The disorganized person must have a budgeting perspective. And that means determining the difference between the fixed—what one must do—and the discretionary—what one would like to do.

Jesus was aware of where true importance lies, where the priorities are. And where your priorities are, there your time will be.

We grow through listening, aggressive listening: asking questions, watching intently what is happening around us, taking note of the good or ill consequences that befall people as a result of their choice making.

We must examine with care what are the virtues of which we stand most in need, what are those which are most difficult to win, the sins to which we most often fall, and the most frequent and inevitable occasions of our falling. We must turn to God in complete confidence in the hour of battle, abide strongly in the presence of his divine majesty, worship him humbly, and set before him our woes and our weaknesses. And thus we shall find in him all virtues though we may lack them all.3

character doesn't always result in the kind of success one wants.

We can't maintain the pace unless we pray, study Scripture, and read heavy doses of the classical spiritual literature.

We human beings are paradoxes. We love the fruits of commitment, love, and order. Yet a dark side of us is often anticommitment, antilove, and antiorder. We would prefer to receive these things; we have to be taught and we have to deliberately choose to give these things. This is a fundamental testimony to the evil within.

recognition that soul cultivation goes before institution building.

God picks the weakest, the smallest, the meanest of men on the face of the earth, and he uses them." There's

The forming of the soul that it might be a dwelling place for God is the primary work of the Christian leader.

The Roman philosopher Cicero said of the discipline of reading: No other pleasure suits every occasion, every age or every place. But the study of letters is the food of youth, the delight of old age, a delight at home and no burden abroad; it stays with us at night, and goes with us on our travels, near and far.

Nothing substitutes for what can be found when we embrace the world of books.

repentance is, first and foremost, an acknowledgement of that deeper pool of evil that lies resident in every one of us and which is ready to explode at any moment. (...) A deeper repentance means that I must examine my heart for such potential waywardness and renounce the tendency to compare myself with others, to explain away my failures, and to whine if someone isn't merciful to me.

Forgiveness, I came to see, is about cleaning up the memory by renouncing and flushing vengeful feelings about other people.

They believed that an organization is only as good as its commitment to training leaders for the future.

Two issues mark decadent societies according to Paul: an unwillingness to acknowledge (or honor) the Creator, and a resistance to gratitude.

Bruce," I said, "the term Gail and I kicked around this morning that sums up what you've got there is inf luence, a holy influence. It pertains to men and women who renounce mediocrity and embrace the possibility that God can use them

First, all training at the hotel is done in a group context. Second, selection of participants is everything. Third, people are pushed hard to learn. Fourth, there are expectations about preparation and participation, and no one is an exception.

Today, many people write about burnout. Why didn't Jesus burn out? I think the answer rests in three simple principles: Jesus measured all investments of time against his purpose, he took time for solitude with the Father, and he didn't try to do too much.

So what's the opposite of teachability?" "Proud . . . smug . . . know-it-all . . . shallow . . . stubborn . . . arrogant . . . that enough?" "Helps to know who you don't want to consider. So then, what are words that define teachability? "Well, what I just said: curious, inquisitive, hungry to learn, humble, disciplined . . . that enough?

Yeah. Here's a second thing to look for. I think you want to look for a pattern of faithfulness and dependability.

TYLER FORD: A tiger team? What's that?          HANK: Oh, sorry. It's a group of people that are put together to solve a problem that no particular unit in the company is responsible for. So the boss picks a

number of people, throws the problem their way, and says, "Don't bother me again until you have a solution." That's a tiger team. Get what I'm saying?

It's Myers-Briggs . . . the MBTI, Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator.