Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

"God has given us a world to live in that is full of beauties and wonders and He has given us not only eyes to see them but minds to understand them, if we only have the sense to look at them in that light."

Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along a beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to the Lord and one belonging to him.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, where you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

"The man who is blind to the beauties of Nature has missed half the pleasure of life."

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

You’ve failed many times, although you might not remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn’t you? Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.

English novelist John Creasey received more than 700 rejection slips before he published over 600 books.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.

Don’t worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

"A Scout/Guide should save animals as far as possible from pain, and should not kill any animal unnecessarily, not even the smallest of God's creatures."

Symbols

There are a lot of symbols that we recognize. Let’s take some time to name or draw a few that we know: the Coca-Cola logo, a poison warning label, a stop or yield sign, the Nike logo, the Scout badge, a heart symbol, cross, etc.

When you see these symbols, you know what they mean—what they stand for, what some of them instruct you to do.

You, too, are a symbol. You represent the Scout Association. People see you and know that you stand for something good. You stand for being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Be a good symbol!

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

"An animal has been made by God just as you have been. He is therefore a fellow creature. He has not the power of speaking our language, but can feel pleasure or pain just as we can, and he can feel grateful to anyone who is kind to him. A Scout is always helpful to people who are crippled or blind or deaf and dumb; so he is good also to these dumb fellow-creatures of ours."

Aim So High You’ll Never Be Bored

The greatest waste of our natural resources is the number of people who never achieve their potential. Get out of that slow lane. Shift into the fast lane. If you think you can’t, you won’t. If you think you can, there’s a good chance you will. Just making the effort will make you feel like a new person. Reputations are made by searching for things that can’t be done and doing them.

Aim low: boring. Aim high: soaring.

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

"By continually watching animals in their natural state one gets to like them too well to shoot them. The whole sport of hunting animals lies in the woodcraft of stalking them, not in the killing."

Trick or Treat

A young university student was walking along with one of his professors when they came across a pair of shoes that belonged to an old man working in a field nearby. Our young friend suggested hiding the old man’s shoes, but the professor objected. “We must never amuse ourselves at the expense of others,” he said. “Why not put a dollar in each shoe and see what he will do?” Together they did this, then hid themselves behind a bush. Soon the old man returned for his shoes. He put one foot into a shoe, then quickly removed it to see what was causing the discomfort. Finding the dollar, he examined it closely, then looked about to see who might have put it in his shoe. There was no one around, so he started to put on his other shoe and, to his amazement, found a dollar in it, too. Overwhelmed, he looked up toward Heaven and thanked God aloud for meeting the need of his distressed family. The student was deeply moved by what he had witnessed. “Now,” said the professor, “is not the treat better than the trick?”