Good Thoughts to Live By #11 & Oregon Coast Fun With Family

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men: . . . that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life . . . 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Praying for the welfare of friends and family each day, gives me happiness and hope.

A son, I hadn't heard from in some time, nor seen for three years, called the other day just to talk.  He put my little granddaughter on the phone so I could hear her play the guitar and sing.  What joy that simple act of thoughtfulness brought to my heart!  I saw a quote today which said, "Family--where life begins and love never ends."  So true.  No matter how long there is between contact, our family still means everything to us.  Our love doesn't decrease even when we don't see or hear from our loved ones very often.

I had the good fortune of driving to Oregon with my oldest daughter a couple weeks ago to visit my youngest daughter and her husband.  Again, my heart did sing every minute I was able to enjoy with these loving, remarkable women as my friends and daughters.  We had such fun!  We all share a love of the ocean, which may come with the genes, since my mother and grandmother instilled that in me at a very young age while growing up in California.  I spent years fishing at the wharf at Bodega Bay, camping on the beach, and combing the beaches of California and Oregon.  We tried to take the kids out to the coast often, leaving the mountains of Utah behind so they knew there was more to the world to enjoy.  I cannot tell you how many "special" pieces of driftwood, rocks, and shells we've collectively saved over the years.  All of us have unique treasures the ocean coughed up on the beach so we could discover them, wrap them up carefully and carry them home to leave them sitting somewhere on a shelf, in a jar, or in a drawer forever.

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.
  -Marcus Antoninus


A wise man will take more opportunities than he finds.
  -Francis Bacon

Words cannot express things; speech does not convey the spirit.  Swayed by words, one is lost; blocked by phrases, one is bewildered.
  -Mumon

If there is any absolute, it is never more than this one, you, this instant, in this action.
  -Charles Olson


Please subdue the anguish of your soul.  Nobody is destined only to happiness or to pain.  The wheel of life takes me up and down by turn.
   -Kalidasa, dramatist (c. 4th century)

Wonderful, wonderful! . . . Listening with ears, nothing is heard, hearing with eyes, everything is known.
  -Tozan

Just as a mother protects her child with her own life, in a similar way we should extend and unlimited heat to all beings.

  -Buddhist Teaching

My grandma always said, "Don't turn your back on the ocean!"  I've told my kids the same thing, but they don't listen . . .

If we don’t turn around, we just may get where we’re going.
  -American Indian Saying

Is death the last sleep?  No, it is the last and final awakening.
  -Sir Walter Scott


Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead.  It is going on all the time.  We are in it now.
  -Charlotte Perkins Gilman

When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is itself a choice.
  -William James

The path that lies beyond our immediate grasp is infinite.
  -Gregory of Nyssa