Thursday, May 17, 2007

CHAPTER 5, PAGE 17

The sacred is in the ordinary,

that is to be found in one's daily life,

in one's neighbors, friends and family,

in one's back yard...

Find evidence of the sacred in your garden,

on your street, or in your neighborhood.

What about this ordinary place is extraordinary?

What turns a house into a home?

I think it is love, attention, normal days and nights, family routines, and memories. It takes time, it takes careful attention, and it takes wear and tear.

GOOD MORNING !

A home and a loving family just don’t happen overnight. They do take a lot of tender loving care. Taking time for those we love is one of the most important things we can do.

Next door to where I work is a day care center. A very large one that has been well established over the years. Across the street is a nursing home that has also been there many years. I know that both of these things are a necessity in today’s world, but it makes me think about the children and the people there…about just what kind of attention they are getting.

My desk is right by a window and I see an awful lot of traffic in and out of the drive for the day care…but not much at all for the nursing home.

My life has often been filled with very glorious ‘ordinary’ days that have so ‘extra-ordinary’. Thanks be to our good God!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Memories grow more meaningful

With every passing year,

More precious and more beautiful,

More treasured and more dear.

Helen Steiner Rice

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

GRAPHICS BY: www.moonandbackgraphics.com

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a contrast for sure. I think very often we should go back to the days of the waltons. families livingtogether with one another and helped out thru the years.

Anonymous said...

My family would never have me in a nursing home I know that for sure,when iget to the stage where I cannot look after myself or ill.I have already been told this by them.They will share me with district nurces coming along if th eneed be.Some nursing homes here have come under much scrutiny of late for poor care of the elderly and sick,I think this has made my faimies mind up for them.I often wonder how many people in them do actualy get visitors etc.As for day care here they say it is wonderful.I live very near a very good nursing home at this present time and there are cars every minute of the day arriving with visitors.The pacients get taken out every day along the seashore in wheel chairs and often for there lunches too.Have a good day Take Care I hope you get some sunshine and a few smiles along the way.God Bless Astoriaand http://journals.aol.co.uk/astoiasand/MYSIMPLERHYMES

Anonymous said...

I work in a senior's residence...not a nursing home, but a residence. I do the front desk/reception job. It is expensive to live there and we are privately owned. However, we are all like one big family there. I have so many Grandma's and Grandpa's and maybe even mums and dads in my life. I pray to God I could be so lucky as to be able to live in a place like that in a few years down the road, but the truth is I could never afford it. Our residents love it, it is their home and they have chosen to live there and they get many family and friends visiting them. You know how they say that it takes a community to raise a child, well it takes a community to honour and care for our elders as well. It is sad to know there are not many visitors to the nursing home near where you work. Very sad.