BOOK O8, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 29

Until you make peace with who you are,

you'll never be content with what you have.

Doris Mortman

Much of the unhappiness in our world today has its roots in how we see ourselves. Too often we put ourselves down and fall into the tempting trap of comparing ourselves to others. We need to let the negative and cloudy parts of our past behind and move on. It is the only way forward.

From one of my Thursday morning reflections

GOOD MORNING !

I hope you can look in the mirror today and be happy with who you are ! I always try to remember that the good Lord made me so I must be very valuable as are all his creatures great and small.

Most of the time I am at peace with who I am and what I do. I’ve had so many blessings in my life that if I don’t have the peace in my heart that I know I should, I just start making a list and pretty soon I’m at peace once again.

I also try to remember each day when I greet some one that they too are one His creations and deserve only the best I can offer too.

Most of what I have to offer is a SMILE, but I’ve got to say I have a real hard time being nice to telemarketers on the phone. I’ll have to think real hard on something nice I can say to them….

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don't really want to smile at at all. Do it for peace.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and

lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 28

 

 

 

The human spirit is very important.

It is seen as residing everywhere in each person.

The heart is the home of the spirit.

The spirit moves in the blood, sparkles in the eyes,

 shines in the hair, is felt in the touch, rings in the voice,

 dances in ones laughter and flows in one’s tear.

Geraldine Flannery

The human spirit is an essential part of each person. It is the mirror of our soul.

Like anything living it needs nourishment and care Take the time to exercise that soul of yours today. Whether it be by walking, reading, praying, listening to music, talking with friends, playing with children, petting animals, or just sitting quietly you can bring ever more goodness, light, strength, happiness, joy, love, and delight into your soul. Whether it be by smiling, laughing, singing, listening, caring, helping, encouraging, cheering, praising, giving, or simply loving you can share every bit of your soul's strength, goodness, light, and joy with the world.

JOSEPH MARZELLA

GOOD MORNING !

Remember the joys of simple snow angels in a crystal-white backyard...what a wonder! In these cold winter days that bog us down and make us grouchy it is a joy to see children playing with their sleds and totally ignoring the fact that it is freezing cold outside.

Something happens to us when we grow up and become disillusioned with winter. One of the few people that I know of that thoroughly enjoys winter is my youngest son. He’s no child by any means as he is now 27, but he loves and enjoys all of it.

I on the other hand enjoy hibernating and waiting for spring to come. The little bits and pieces that I collected today are all about nourishing our souls. There really is something to be said for that. If we don’t take the time to feed our souls with some really good stuff they do tend to freeze up just like me on a cold winter day.

I hope you all take the time to nourish your self daily too !

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

There are many fine things which you mean to do some day,

under what you think will be more favorable circumstances.

But the only time that is surely yours is the present,

hence this is the time to speak the word of appreciation and

sympathy, to do the generous deed, to forgive the fault of a

thoughtless friend, to sacrifice self a little more for others.

Today is the day in which to express your noblest qualities of

mind and heart, to do at least one worthy thing which you have

long postponed, and to use your God-given abilities for the

enrichment of some less fortunate fellow traveler.

Today you can make your life . . . significant and worthwhile.

The present is yours to do with it as you will.

Grenville Kleiser

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES

and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 27

THERE IS SPRING

By William A. Ward

Where there are love and generosity, there is joy.

Where there are sincerity and sacrifice, there is friendship.

Where there are harmony and simplicity, there is beauty.

Where there are prayer and forgiveness, there is peace.

Where there are moderation and patience, there is wisdom.

Where there are conflicts and crises, there is opportunity.

Where there are wonder and adventure, there is growth.

Where there are adoration and confession, there is worship.

Where there are compassion and concern, there is God.

Where there are faith and hope, there is spring!

When we are down, low, depressed, why can’t we ignore the desire to rise up again?

Because we’re like plants that need pure air, water, and sun. Because no matter how bent and old, we just keep wanting to grow up.

Because there is a natural spring in us like that which makes flowers leap from the earth in May.

Because we have hidden wings. And if we listen, we can feel the difference between wrong and right: we know the difference even with our eyes closed.

Therefore we should not try putting ourselves down, for we will spring up again, sure as Spring.

 

GOOD MORNING !

For those of us inhabiting the frozen north, spring, which signals an end to the long, dark days of winter, can't come too soon. Spring officially arrives on the vernal equinox around March 21 (this year it's March 20) when Earth's orbital path places the sun directly over the Equator, and day and night are exactly the same length.

The word “Spring” itself is from Old English meaning “the place of rising or issuing as in a wellspring, the source of a stream or spring. The word, “Spring”, even has a cheery ring to it that makes us feel more energetic and we long to get outside. We all tend to get anxious for Spring to arrive, especially if it has been a hard winter.

After being snowed in for a few days, cabin fever sets in and we long for Spring.   I’m looking for a rush of energy and renewed enthusiasm for sure. Come the Ides of March I usually start rebounding from the hibernation mode I go into every winter and I can hardly wait. I’m tired of being an old ‘bear’.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

Bern Williams

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES

and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 26

Peace.

May peace be with you.

What a wonderful part of life peace is, and how little of it we tend to see in the hustle and bustle of daily life.

 

The surface of life is also in a state of constant flux, with good days and bad, victory and defeat. To maintain, as the ocean does, a deep inner calm, while the storms of misfortune, reverses, fears and worries lash at the surface of life, is to discover the secret of serenity. . .

Some people are ocean personalities. In their inner depths they are not defeated by what happens to them. The towering waves of circumstances cannot reach us when we go deep within to seek the peace that passes all understanding. While the surface of life is in turmoil we can find an inner calmness to see us through.

Wilferd A. Peterson

GOOD MORNING !

We are under a winter storm warning here…snow snow and more snow so I’m not very peaceful this morning. When I hear weather reports like the one we have for today I tend to get out of sorts because I know the roads will be hazardous and I have to be on them to go to work and I know I’ll have to go out and shovel that white stuff too.

I should know better than to get upset about it…what will be will be no matter what ….There is not one thing I can do about it, except stay in and that’s out of the question.

I'll just say a little prayer and put on my ***BIG SMILE ***and go ….

I owe… I owe… It’s off to work I go.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

The important thing to remember is that peace comes from within your own heart and mind, not from some outside source, and when you refuse to be disturbed by things about you, life will flood your being with dynamic energy.

Anonymous

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and

lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 25

 

I come to the office each morning and stay for long hours doing what has to be done to the best of my ability.

And when you've done the best you can, you can't do any better.

So when I go to sleep I turn everything over to the Lord and forget it.

Harry S Truman

 

GOOD MORNING !

It is Monday and it’s back to work for me today.

Everyday I’m grateful for the ability to work and happy I have a job to go to. I do office work because it’s the only thing I’ve been trained to do.

Some of it is boring and most of it time consuming, but whatever it is I try to put my best into it. I can pretty much work at my own pace and am rarely under pressure to get some thing done.

My salary is probably on the low end of average and sometimes I wish I made more, but when I think about it, If I made more I’d also have the responsibilities that go along with it. I know a lot of people that make more than I and I even know a few who make less.

The important thing to me is that I make what I need to live and that ‘s a good thing. I do sleep good at night for sure.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

You affect the value of your work, not so much by what you do, but by what you give to the effort.

 Ralph Marston

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and

lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart

MA

 

PS.  AOL  is still not letting me add graphics today...I got one in but that is it.

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 24

 

THE STRANGER IN THE HOUSE

(I found this surfing the net and it was too good not to share. I did shorten it a bit because it was so long.)

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family.

The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. My parents were complementary instructors. Mom taught me good from evil and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger…he was our story teller. He would keep us spell bound for hours on end.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed to be able to predict the future. He made me laugh and he made me cry. The stranger never seemed to stop talking and Dad didn’t seem to mind.

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home. Our visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first.

Still you will find him sitting over in his corner waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?.... We just call him, “TV”

PS  He has a wife now…We call her “Computer”

 

 

GOOD MORNING !

I hope you enjoyed the little story above. It points out a major fact in that we have been changed so much by that STRANGER that invaded all our homes in the not too far distant past.

I started out with the topic of change for today and I guess that TV was a major thing. Of course younger people will not be able to remember a day without a TV and our children’s children will never be able to remember a day without a computer.

I guess the main thing is that we have to be able to keep our values and ethics and be able to make a distinction from the influences of the TV and the Computer and hold fast to the real and important treasures we have.  

The pictures above are of the golf carts that DS#1 and family and DD and her hubby got to use at the campground this year.  They just got them this week and DS#1 has them at his house.  He also got a new campstove that our Prince Charming is showing off and that looks really nice with a griddle and burners.  It won't be long now and we'll be camping !

It is SUNDAY my day of R&R and as always I’m going to be going off to church to get my weekly dose. Maybe some consider ‘church’ to be old fashioned and out of style, but it remains for me something I need and that I want to do. You all remain in my prayers…another thing that will never change.

 

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mood of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form. . . happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up.

Charles L. Morgan

We're older and wiser and more capable of taking all we can from the present moment, so here the present moment is--what are you waiting for?

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES

and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 23

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people goin' by

I see friends shaking hands saying, "How do you do"

They're really saying "I love you."

I hear babies cry, I watch then grow

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know;

And I think to myself, What a wonderful world;

Yes, I think to myself, What a wonderful world.

Oh yeah!

Louis Armstrong

GOOD MORNING !

It is a wonderful world ! It’s Saturday morning and I have my good cup of hot coffee, my comfy pj’s, and I’m loving it! I feel like I’m being rewarded for a long week of work and I’m delighted by the ‘prize’ I’ve been given.

As always there is lots to do around here, cleaning to be done and errands to run, but for now all is quiet and I’m going to take advantage of it.

This coming week will be last in the month of February already. March will bring St. Patrick’s Day , Spring, Easter and oh yes, I’ll be having a birthday too! Lots of things to celebrate and enjoy.

I’ll have to get busy and pick a new theme for Chapter 3 of my journal. There are lots of possibilities I’m sure. Just about the time I think there is nothing new under the sun, I find that there is…

 

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.

Charles Evans Hughes

 

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and

Lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 22

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.

A.A. Milne

Hear Your Inner Voice ...

If you take a step and it feels good, you must be headed in the right direction. We need to measure our progress against an inner compass, using our feelings, our comfort level, and our knowledge of ourselves as the ultimate guide...

If you take the time and really listen, it may say something like... happiness is as simple as having something to look forward to in the morning...

It says, in a low murmur, you may have to strain to hear.. listen closely...

that now is the time to have fun.

 

I WANT to be happy

Is an often repeated phrase

People who say it, Get exactly what they’re asking for.

They live in the ‘want’ of happiness.

Choose to SHARE happiness today!

 

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING !

I can share my happiness with you today and it comes from the heart too ! I absolutely love FRIDAYS! I can celebrate that with the good Lords help, I made it through another work week and what a cold and bitter one it was. I just didn’t want to leave the house at all !

I know I could go out and start the car 15 minutes earlier than when I leave the house, but with the cost of gas, I really don’t want to waste it… then again, maybe I’d feel better….

I read the quote below and churckled because it could so very easily be me:

This is my "depressed stance." When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this.

Charlie Brown

Well today I’m not having any of that stance at all …I’m standing straight up with my head held high and saying IT’S FRIDAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Blessed is the person who can enjoy the small things,

the common beauties, the little day-to-day events;

 sunshine on the fields, birds on the bough, breakfast, dinner,

supper, the daily paper on the porch, a friend passing by.

So many people who go afield for enjoyment leave

it behind them at home.

David Grayson, American writer

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of

SUNSHINE  to warm your heart !

MA

 

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 21

 

A story about a woodcutter.

He had an axe that was dull; the blade needed to be sharpened. A stranger came up to him and said, "You know, if you just stop working and take time to sharpen that blade, everything would go so much more smoothly."

And the woodcutter was frantic. He said, "Forget it. I don't have time to stop and sharpen my blade. I've got things to do. I've got a family to support." And he just kept on keeping on. Things were not going well.

Sometimes when I'm sitting at my computer And I say to myself, you might be busy, but if you take five minutes, and you just get up and you do some stretches ... or you take 10 minutes and go out and take a walk ... or if you just take two minutes and close your eyes and do some breathing you like the wood cutter's blade will be sharp, and the rest of your work so much better

So remember, the next time you're having a really busy day, take the time and sharpen your blade.

GOOD MORNING !

We made it over the hump and can now slide on in to the weekend. Yesterday I just didn’t have much energy to do anything. The smallest of tasks seemed to need a huge effort on my part to get them done. When I finally got home from work I put my pj’s on and relaxed.

I probably would have napped at my computer had it not been for the fact that both my bosses were in the office. My now retired boss was in town for a few days as he had a doctor’s appointment and his SIL, my other boss, must have thought he needed to be there too.

Hopefully, today will be a little better as I made the effort to get to bed on time. I really feel it if I miss out on an hour of sleep and that’s what I’d done the night before last.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Consequences are unpitying.

George Eliot

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES

and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

 

MA

 

 

 

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BOOK 08, CHAPTER 2, PAGE 20

Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level.

We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.

Shakti Gawain

Just for today, I’ll try to notice the beautiful things I normally don't notice. . . .

When you remain aware of the treasures that follow you all the days of your life, you will begin to feel an authentic joy throughout times of sunshine and rain. Count your blessings today--your greatest treasures. Name each one with a feeling of gratitude. You will begin to feel a deep peace and joy that will not ever leave your heart.

Have a fantastic day!

Steve Brunkhorst

GOOD MORNING !

I was reading some positive thoughts in my search for today’s entry and the following questions were asked.

How much do you value all that you have in life right now?

How much do you appreciate the gifts and the people and the things in your life?

Most of the time I am very thankful for all the blessings in my life . Sometimes, though, my focus shifts to things that I don’t have–but want–and then I lose sight of just how blessed I am to have what I do. It’s a shame when that happens, but as I grow older I find that it happens much less.

Material things mean less and less to me and are just a little icing on the cake as far as I am concerned. What means most in my life continues to be my faith, my family and my home. I include my home because there is where my family can come at any time, not because of its value in dollars or the things inside.

We must always remember that possessions have no inherent value. They become what we make them. If they increase our capacity to give, they become something good. If they increase our focus on ourselves and become standards by which we measure other people, they become something bad.

Kent Nerburn

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Things That Never Die

The pure, the bright,

the beautiful that stirred our hearts in youth,

The impulses to wordless prayer,

The streams of love and truth,

The longing after something lost,

The spirit's longing cry,

The striving after better hopes--

These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid

A brother in his need;

A kindly word in grief's dark hour

That proves a friend indeed;

The plea for mercy softly breathed,

When justice threatens high,

The sorrow of a contrite heart--

These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand

Must find some work to do,

Lose not a chance to waken love--

Be firm and just and true.

So shall a light that cannot fade

Beam on thee from on high,

And angel voices say to thee--

"These things shall never die."

Charles Dickens

I found so many nice things to share today that this is a little longer than usual. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Please make this a very special day in your life!  God bless. . . .

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES

and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

MA

 

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