| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: from the side, he would drive his shoulder at the shoulder of
Spitz, as a ram by which to overthrow him. But instead, Buck's
shoulder was slashed down each time as Spitz leaped lightly away.
Spitz was untouched, while Buck was streaming with blood and
panting hard. The fight was growing desperate. And all the while
the silent and wolfish circle waited to finish off whichever dog
went down. As Buck grew winded, Spitz took to rushing, and he
kept him staggering for footing. Once Buck went over, and the
whole circle of sixty dogs started up; but he recovered himself,
almost in mid air, and the circle sank down again and waited.
But Buck possessed a quality that made for greatness--
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: began puffing smoke from it, a sight so strange to them
that it filled them all with wonder. Presently the King
asked:
"How did you penetrate to this hidden country? Did you
cross the desert or the mountains?"
"Desert," answered Cap'n Bill, as if the task were too
easy to be worth talking about.
"Indeed! No one has ever been able to do that before,"
said the King.
"Well, it's easy enough, if you know how," asserted
Cap'n Bill, so carelessly that it greatly impressed his
The Scarecrow of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: God he is already saved and rich in all things through his
faith--but solely that which is well-pleasing to God.
So, too, no good work can profit an unbeliever to justification
and salvation; and, on the other hand, no evil work makes him an
evil and condemned person, but that unbelief, which makes the
person and the tree bad, makes his works evil and condemned.
Wherefore, when any man is made good or bad, this does not arise
from his works, but from his faith or unbelief, as the wise man
says, "The beginning of sin is to fall away from God"; that is,
not to believe. Paul says, "He that cometh to God must believe"
(Heb. xi. 6); and Christ says the same thing: "Either make the
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