"Get outside of your nine dots." (My mom and dad used to say this a lot. It applies to much of life, but refers to the mental exercise of drawing- without lifting your pen- four connected, straight lines through a square grid of nine dots, touching all the dots. Most people will not easily think of the fact that to accomplish this one's lines may- and must- go outside of the grid of nine dots itself. This is similar to the definition of insanity proposed by many: "Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.")

"No fun allowed!" (My dad's tongue-in-cheek way of encouraging us as kids to go ahead and play hard.)
"Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it." (Psalm 104: 25- 26)
"...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." (Ecclesiastes 1: 18)

"The days are long and the years are short." (My mom on getting old)
"The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90: 10- 12)

"Better to waste than to waist." (My uncle Bucky and others on eating)
"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body." (1 Corinthians 6: 12-13)

"Begin with the end in mind." (My dad's motto, from Stephen Covey book)

"Never underestimate sleep deprivation." (My sister Allie)

"A half truth presented as a whole truth is a complete untruth." (Brother-in-Law David)

"Life is messy." (Brother-in-Law Brian. This is a core belief which will help enable us to live life with realism, love, and patience. This world is far from Heaven.)
"When the woman saw that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate... To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth'... Then to Adam He said... 'cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles is shall grow for you... til you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'" (Genesis 3: 6, 16a, 17b-18a, 19b)
"The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, 'If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!' Now there was also an inscription above Him, 'THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.'"
"O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil." (Psalms 90: 14-15)

"Focus on controllables." (My dad. There is much in life that we either fear or would like to change, but over which we have no control. Thus, we should focus on what we can change, not what we can't. This refers to what we can do physically. Spiritually, on the other hand, we can effect the entire world through prayer, God willing. God, of course, we cannot control, but He graciously grants us prayer.)

"Action breeds motivation." (Saying often quoted by my Brother-in-Law David)