Enthusiastic Ideas

Gary Henry
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Let’s make room for better thoughts. On Enthusiastic Ideas, Gary Henry shares a daily reflection focused on a single, positive word. It takes just three minutes to explore a concept that can benefit your character and enrich your life. Join us in finding ideas that deserve a home in your heart.

  1. Courage (February 12)

    12H AGO

    Courage (February 12)

    COURAGE (FEBRUARY 12) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/courage-february-12/ "I am tired of hearing about men with the “courage of their convictions. Nero and Caligula and Attila and Hitler had the courage of their convictions . . . But not one of them had the courage to examine their convictions or to change them, which is the true test of character" (Sydney J. Harris). TODAY, AS WE CELEBRATE ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY, LET’S MEDITATE ON THE VALUE OF COURAGE. There can be little question that Lincoln’s place in history was secured by the courageous coupling of his character and his well-informed conscience. Courage is a quality of such fundamental importance that from ancient times it has been counted as one of the four “cardinal” virtues: justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin cardo (“hinge” or “axis”), and these virtues are cardinal in the sense that all the other virtues hinge, or depend, on them. They’re the necessary foundation on which the other virtues must be built, and there is even a sense in which courage is the prerequisite for the other cardinal virtues. In the practice of any good human trait, there are challenges and hardships that must be dealt with. Since courage is what overcomes these difficulties, nothing much can be accomplished without it. As James Matthew Barrie put it, “Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes.” And yet it should be equally obvious that courage must be balanced by other virtues or it becomes an evil thing. As Sydney J. Harris pointed out, many of the most sinister figures in world history have been persons of courage, but their courage was not informed by justice and equity. It is no great thing to act courageously if our actions are not governed by a conscience grounded in valid principles. And so, as Harris suggests, what we need are folks with “the courage to examine their convictions,” and also the courage “to change them, which is the true test of character.” Abraham Lincoln was old-fashioned enough to believe that there are objective standards of right and wrong, and for all his courage, he also had humility. On more than one occasion, he took a position that varied from his previous policies, based on his growing understanding of the requirements of rightness for himself and for his nation. We’re indebted to his example, and we need to be more Lincolnesque in the living of our lives. May we always be courageous in what is right! "Without justice, courage is weak" (Benjamin Franklin). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  2. Standards (February 11)

    1D AGO

    Standards (February 11)

    STANDARDS (FEBRUARY 11) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/standards-february-11/ "Pray to God we may have the courage and the wisdom and the vision to raise a definite standard that will appeal to the best that is in man, and then strive mightily toward that goal" (Harold E. Stassen). LITERALLY, THE WORD STANDARD MEANS “RALLYING PLACE.” On the battlefield, a standard is a flag or banner that rallies the troops to their cause. In ancient times, to be the standard-bearer was an important responsibility: the flag could not be allowed to fall. Then the word came to be used figuratively to mean an acknowledged measure of comparison, a criterion. Today, we often think of a standard as an expected level of conduct or performance. We speak of moral standards, ethical standards, business standards, and so forth. Without these reference points, life would be a chaos. A nation needs a worthy set of standards, and so do individual people. If we have no rallying point in our lives, and if there’s no minimum level of honor to which we hold ourselves, then we’re simply adrift, and nothing very good will come from our activity. Living with no standards produces mediocrity rather than excellence. We ought to be careful in selecting our standards. In the marketplace of ideas, there are all sorts of standards to choose from, many with a flashy appearance but little long-term value. It pays to be careful. There ought to be some standards that we refuse to compromise. There comes a time in life when we’re tempted to barter with the devil and “sell out” our standards. But there ought to be some things that are simply not negotiable. We may back up and back up and back up, but eventually honor must assert itself and say, “No further!” We need to be improving our standards constantly. Some of the best work we ever do is upgrading our standards. None of us has a perfect set of standards at present, and so we need to work on their quality continually, aligning them with principles of time-tested value. In many homes, there are two sets of dishes: one for everyday use and another for special occasions. Most of us also have more than one set of standards, one “idealistic” and the other more “realistic.” While meeting our highest standards may not be possible every instant, those standards can certainly be met more than once or twice a year. We should use our “good dishes” more often! "You must regulate your life by the standards you admire when you are at your best" (John M. Thomas). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  3. Participation (February 10)

    2D AGO

    Participation (February 10)

    PARTICIPATION (FEBRUARY 10) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/participation-february-10/ "To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death" (Jean Anouilh). LIFE CALLS US TO MAKE A DECISION: WILL WE PARTICIPATE OR MERELY OBSERVE? Will we take part in the great drama or be content to sit among the spectators? Quite a lot depends on our decision. If we choose to be active in the living of life, good things are more than likely to happen. If, on the other hand, we decide to remain passive and uninvolved, it’s less likely that we’ll enjoy life’s goodness. Whether we’ve studied philosophy or not, most of us understand the practical difference between “subjective” and “objective.” Subjective things have to do with ourselves and the life that’s “inside” our minds, while objective things are those that exist “outside” of us. Regarding the objective world, Paul Goodman has said this: “It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something.” Outside of our own minds and experience, there lies a vast, marvelous world to engage in, inquire after, and be involved with. And we aren’t really living a human life if we’re not immersing ourselves in this external world. Going back to the analogy of life as a drama or play, isn’t it true that each of us has some part, some role to play in the story? Surely we do, and the world loses some degree of goodness every time we back away from playing the part we’re uniquely equipped to play. Does participating require more effort than being an observer? Yes, indeed. Does it involve more risk? Without a doubt. That’s why, as Jean Anouilh said, “It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death.” But who wants death? It’s worth whatever it takes to overcome our inertia, break the bonds of gravity, and say yes to life! The word “life” can be used in different ways, and there is a sense in which the laziest, most passive person you’ve ever met is still “living.” But in a greater sense, that person is not really living; they are just “being lived,” as the saying goes. In the end, that kind of life has in it more to regret than to rejoice about. "The notion of looking on at life has always been hateful to me. What am I if I am not a participant? In order to be, I must participate" (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  4. Caution (February 9)

    3D AGO

    Caution (February 9)

    CAUTION (FEBRUARY 9) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/caution-february-9/ "Be cautious. Opportunity does the knocking for temptation too" (Al Batt). WHEN WE’RE CONFRONTED WITH DIFFICULT OR DANGEROUS CIRCUMSTANCES, WE NEED TO BE CAUTIOUS. There are forces at work in the world that will destroy us and our loved ones if we don’t watch out. In the living of a human life, it pays to be careful. It is possible to be overly cautious, and if that’s your problem, today’s reading may not be helpful. But in my experience, those with that problem are in the minority. The swindlers of the world haven’t reported any downturn in their business lately; you don’t hear them complaining that people in general have become too cautious. No, I think P. T. Barnum (who said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”) would be tickled to death if he were alive today. We need to exercise caution in our beliefs. When we’re forming our basic beliefs, convictions, and opinions, we need to double-check for accuracy. “Opinions should be formed with great caution — and changed with greater” (Josh Billings). It’s easier to verify the truthfulness of our ideas and principles than it is to rebuild what we’ve destroyed by acting on false information that we carelessly accepted. We need to exercise caution in our relationships. Of all the damage that carelessness can do, none is more heartbreaking than the damage we do to other people. To a greater or lesser extent, everything we do impinges on someone else, and it’s not sufficient, when we’ve hurt someone, to brush the incident aside with a simple, “I just wasn’t thinking.” That’s the whole point, isn’t it? We should have been thinking. We owe it to those around us to use caution in our conduct. When we’ve been careless, we can’t expect the laws of the universe to rescue us. Those laws operate with great predictability: the crop we reap will always be the one we sowed. If we sow incautiously, it’s foolish (and also a bit arrogant) to expect the “law of the farm” to be set aside just for our convenience, as if we could make poor choices and still get the results that would have come from better choices. And in the real world, poor choices can be disastrous, not only for us but also for the friends and family members who are affected by our actions. It pays to be careful. "The sower may mistake and sow his peas crookedly: the peas make no mistake, but come up and show his line" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  5. Tranquility (February 8)

    4D AGO

    Tranquility (February 8)

    TRANQUILITY (FEBRUARY 8) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/tranquility-february-8/ "Calm's not life’s crown, though calm is well" (Matthew Arnold). IF OUR INWARD CHARACTER IS ONE THAT CAN BE CALLED “TRANQUIL,” THEN WE HAVE SOMETHING TO ENJOY. Our individual characters are the result of our choices, of course, and unfortunately, we may not have made choices that lead toward tranquility. If we haven’t, perhaps we should consider doing so. As Matthew Arnold suggests, a calm, peaceful state of mind is not the highest goal that should claim our attention, but rightly considered, it’s an honorable thing, worthy of our pursuit. It’s not the highest goal in life simply because many things would be worth sacrificing our tranquility for. For example, suppose a house is burning down and there are young children inside who need to be rescued. No one in their right mind would say, “Well, I’d like to get involved, but I prefer not to disturb my peace of mind.” No, we would courageously sacrifice our tranquility in a moment like that. So, peace of mind is like any other kind of peace: it is right for us to want peace, but we shouldn’t want peace at any price. Emotional feelings are fine, but life involves considerations more important than how we feel at any given moment. Come to think of it, one of the things that’s more important than our own tranquility is being an agent who influences others to enjoy that quality. We live in times that are agitated and stressful, and most of the people we meet need more calmness in their lives. The most practical reason, then,  for pursuing tranquility is so that we can have a peaceful influence on those we love. There is no possibility of being tranquil, however, if we look for it in the wrong places. It doesn’t come from diets, exercises, self-help seminars, faddish lifestyles, or hip philosophies: it comes from having characters that are aligned with true-north principles. As La Rochefoucauld said, “When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.” In a world of disturbing ups and downs, tranquility must come from living on the basis of truths that don’t change. "To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals — that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him" (Honoré de Balzac). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  6. Beauty (February 7)

    5D AGO

    Beauty (February 7)

    BEAUTY (FEBRUARY 7) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/beauty-february-7/ "God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more — something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it" (C. S. Lewis). SOMEWHERE WITHIN EACH OF US, THERE IS A DESIRE FOR BEAUTY. In fact, that is one of our deepest desires, whether we recognize it as such or not. And it’s not just that we want to see or hear or touch particular things that are beautiful within our world. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “We want something else which can hardly be put into words — we want to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.” Isn’t this why we’re drawn so powerfully toward personal beauty? However much we may be moved by the beauty of things like sunrises and songs and stories, the beauty of certain persons attracts our hearts even more strongly. And it’s not just physical beauty that pulls us toward them; it’s almost always a combination of inward and outward traits that make us want to know them — and to be known by them — at a level that is profoundly deep. The beauty of these individuals is not a desirable goal all by itself; it is merely a marker, a pointer. It points us toward something we have a built-in need for. We may not be able to define it or describe it, but we know for a fact that we meet people who stir within us a desperate longing for something we’ve never experienced in its fullness or perfection. Let’s call this thing Beauty. But as we all know, beauty is not the only thing in the world; there is also much ugliness. And so, we have a choice to make: will we give in to the ugliness that taints our lives, or will we resist it? I’d like to encourage you to resist it. When faced with a choice, choose beauty. Learn to appreciate it, and educate your taste for it. Make it one of your core values, and exhibit it in your character. Love it, and share its sharp, piercing wonder with others who love it as you do. Spend all you have for loveliness,Buy it and never count the cost;For one white singing hour of peaceCount many a year of strife well lost,And for a breath of ecstasyGive all you have been, or could be.(Sara Teasdale) Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  7. Companionship (February 6)

    6D AGO

    Companionship (February 6)

    COMPANIONSHIP (FEBRUARY 6) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/companionship-february-6/ "True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self; and, in the next, from the friendship of a few select companions" (Joseph Addison). OUR HAPPINESS NEEDS A LITTLE PRIVACY, BUT IT ALSO NEEDS “THE FRIENDSHIP OF A FEW SELECT COMPANIONS,” AS ADDISON SAID. The qualities of character that we nurture in private are not meant for our benefit alone; they’re meant to be used and enjoyed within the context of relationships with others. Whatever we are within the privacy of our own hearts, our “self” should touch and influence other human beings in widening circles of contact. And those who occupy the innermost of these circles are our “companions.” Our word "companion" is a colorful word. We get it from the Latin companio, which was a compound of two words: com (“together”) + panis (“bread”). So, a companion is someone with whom we “break bread,” that is, a close associate or comrade. Looking at it from a slightly different angle, our companions are those who “accompany” us on the road we’re traveling. They’re our “company,” as in the delightful question, “Would you like some company?” Companionableness. What are the qualities of a good companion? Well, as we suggested in yesterday’s reading, one of them is a respect for our privacy. Good companions enjoy our company, but they also honor our solitude. But there are other traits as well, and almost all of them are virtues of character: sympathy, understanding, a sense of humor, kindness, enjoyment of life, curiosity, and many more. Companionship. Companionable qualities may be delightful, but they’re not much good if we don’t activate them. What we need more of in the world is not merely companionableness as a personality trait; we need more actual companionship in the living of our daily lives. We need — all of us do — to engage actively in the conduct of companionship. It takes work and it’s not always convenient, but its value is worth more than diamonds and rubies. Whoever you are, there are those who need you to “accompany” them in some way. They need your companionship. And, in truth, you need theirs. It’s a fact: human beings are social creatures, and we need a few good folks with whom we can “break bread.” "Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue" (Izaak Walton). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
  8. Privacy (February 5)

    FEB 5

    Privacy (February 5)

    PRIVACY (FEBRUARY 5) View on Website -- https://wordpoints.com/privacy-february-5/ "The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned, freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy quite as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise" (Phyllis McGinley). THE PERSON WHO IS NEVER ALONE IS A PERSON WHO WILL FIND IT HARD TO GROW IN CHARACTER. We certainly do need contact with other human beings, and we even need what might be called companionship (more about that tomorrow), but it’s a fact that we also need privacy. We need times of solitude to reflect, meditate, and grow. We need some quiet, private spaces in our lives. And if it’s true that we need such spaces, it’s also true that it’s hard to find them. More and more, our lives are lived in such a way that solitude — at least significant solitude — is a rare commodity. Robert Lindner wrote, “It is in solitude that the works of hand, heart, and mind are always conceived, and in solitude that individuality must be affirmed.” By now, the record of the human race is clear: positive contributions to the world are not made except by those who have spent time alone, growing strong in the seasons of life. Privacy is not the end goal of life, however, and nothing that we’ve said here is meant to diminish the importance of interaction with others. But as Emerson said, “Isolation must precede true society.” If we intend our connections with others to be beneficial, we must first learn the benefit of solitude. Little good will come from our circle of relationships if we haven’t grounded ourselves in the virtue of valid principles — and that is almost always done in private. In our “public” lives, much depends on what we’ve done with our privacy. There are no friends we should appreciate any more than those who are secure enough in their relationship with us that they’ll honor our need for privacy. And more than that, those friends are especially valuable who, when we’ve taken them into our privacy and confided to them some part of our deepest thoughts and motives, can be trusted to keep those private matters private. A friend who will guard the gate to the innermost chambers of our heart is a friend indeed. But the crucial question is not whether we have friends like that; it’s whether we can be friends like that to others. Those who need us, need us to keep their secrets safe. "Count him not among your friends who will retail your privacies to the world" (Publilius Syrus). Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

    3 min
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About

Let’s make room for better thoughts. On Enthusiastic Ideas, Gary Henry shares a daily reflection focused on a single, positive word. It takes just three minutes to explore a concept that can benefit your character and enrich your life. Join us in finding ideas that deserve a home in your heart.

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  • Creator
    Gary Henry
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Copyright 2026 Gary Henry & WordPoints
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    Enthusiastic Ideas