Good Thoughts to Live By #3

 None . . . that trust in him shall be desolate.  Psalms 34:22

Contemplating in the Sacred Grove - upstate New York


All truth passed through three stages.  
First, it is ridiculed.  
Second, it is violently opposed.  
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” 
-Arthur Schopenhauer

A smile raises our face value, and if you can’t smile, let the bottom middle of your mouth droop.
  -Ben Franklin    


Ordinary youth think about problems.  Extraordinary think about how to solve them.   
  -Ben Franklin


The Constitution only lets us pursue happiness–you have to catch it!    
  -Ben Franklin


There are many compliments that may come in the course of a lifetime, but there is no higher tribute than to be loved by those who know us best.    
  -Dale E. Turner


The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.
  -Kevin Kelly in Wired


To love what you do and feel that it matters–how could anything be more fun?
  -Katherine Graham


People seldom become famous for what they say until after they are famous for what they’ve done.
  -Cullen Hightower


It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
  -Mark Twain


Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.
  -Paul Simon


Ten thousand
flowers
in spring,
the moon
in autumn,
a cool breeze
in summer,
snow
in winter.
If your mind
isn’t clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is
the best
season
of your life.
   -Wu-Men

Good Thoughts to Live By #2 & Don't Worry, Be Happy

. . . be followers of that which is good. 1 Pet. 3:13

Denver Duck in Water World--taken in 2009

I especially have to focus on the thought by Mother Teresa today because there are ongoing troubles with those I love.  Anyone with a family or friends will face worries and have concerns for their loved ones, but "they" say there is nothing worrying helps, other than to create stress, which is not healthy.  We are constantly reminded that worrying changes no situation and even the most intense worrying cannot control outcomes (yes, we know that on an intellectual level).  Carrying worry with us each day causes us to be less productive and unappreciative of what blessings are unfolded (I remind myself).  Worry banishes peace (ommm).  I courageously stand forth and declare we dump all our worries in the drink and paddle through our trials with a little quack here and a little quack there.  Before we know it, we'll be cruisin' on down the river of life with a brave smile (uh huh) to face whatever comes our way.  We do have the power to create a path for the journey of the day that will reveal itself as time marches forward.  Whew, that little spiel left me breathless.  Do I worry?  HA!  What do you think?

Yesterday is gone.
Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today.
Let us begin.
  -Mother Teresa


Work is love made visible.  And if you can’t work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit a the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
  -Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong; because someday in you life, you will have been all of these. 
  -George Washington Carver

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down, And this is all that life really means.  
  -Robert Lewis Stevenson

Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.  
  -Horace

I have learned to live each day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.
  -Dorothy Dix

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.    
  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is not a spelling bee where one mistake wipes out all the things we have done right . . . not a test for which the passing grade is 100% and anything else is a failure..    
  -Kushner

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect.  The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of others.
  -Fenelon

Usually the bad apple needs help the most.
  -Dr. Carolyn Barcus, professor Utah State

I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.    
  -William Penn

Babies and Pets Are Happy Makers

2011 and 2012 are dubbed "The Years of the Great Grandchild," mainly because there were seven born to add to the two already here.  There are two more on the way in the next couple of months.  That will be a total of 11!  To honor their privacy, I won't post names.  Their parents can do that if they want.  Below are two boys and a girl.  Two more girls are on the way, so the girls are winning.

    

Our little 49er and my oldest daughter's dog on the right--always smiling.

The youngest daughter's "kids," so these are my granddogs.

This is Outlaw, raised from birth by my oldest daughter.  He thinks he is human.  Judging by the super metal, locking padlocks on their freeze and fridge, he's conquered the baby locks.

Good Thoughts to Live By #1

Thoughts To Live By
I have decided to post an ongoing series of my favorite thoughts and poems collected over a period of years that have touched my heart and brought a clearer perspective on what really matters in ordinary day-to-day living.  For me, these thoughts bring a variety of insight and wisdom that promote happiness, faith and hope.

I don't know the name of this sculpture in Denver that I snapped while Arian and Karalee lived there, but I like to call it "Seeing Oneself Close Up," (considering this guy is about ready to drown, it's how I've felt looking into the mirror after the age of thirty--as if my face was shouting, "The end is drawing nigh!"  There's actually a lot of interpretations for this visual.  Perhaps you'd like to dwell on it and see what you think it could represent.  Here below is a great poem to go with this picture.

I'm nobody!  Who are you?

I’m nobody!

Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us–don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know. 

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
to tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!  
   -Emily Dickinson

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain. 
   -Emily Dickinson

The best things are nearest; breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of Right just before you.  Do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.                        
  -Robert Louis Stevenson

It was lovely beyond any singing of it.
   -“From Cry the Beloved Country” (movie)

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.  
  -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Two are better than one; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.   
   -Ecclesiastes

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprise?  If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
   -Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Chapter XVII, conclusion.

2012 - No Need to Fear

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. . . . Be still, and know that I am God . . . Psalm 46:1-3; 10

The end of a year and the end of a day in Florida 

What difference would it make if 2012 was the actual date for the world to end?  What changes would we make in our lives if the Mayan calendar really predicted the end of the world?  It could be utter chaos if everyone knew when the world would end, but it might also be a time of people mending relationships and loving and gathering together to review precious memories and celebrate special events they shared.  


For those who don't believe in God, knowing there was only a year left to live, they might get busy filling their "bucket list" with all the things they had always hoped to do and never had the time.  For those who believe in God, it will be a time to either get their lives in order, or a time to prepare to celebrate the great and dreadful day--dreadful for those not ready and great for those who are. 


Thank goodness we know that only God, the Father knows when Jesus Christ will come again, which will mark the end of the world as we know it and usher in a thousand years of peace.  He has given us plenty of warning about the signs to look for, and many are happening in increasing consistency and intensity, but we are told we have no need to fear if we are prepared.  Our life IS the time to prepare to meet God, whenever that will be. 


None of us know how long we will live, so the only thing we can do is to live each day as we choose to live it.  God is in control over the whole earth, but we are in control of our thoughts, our actions, and our attitudes.  What things are most important?  Do we spend our time on those priorities?  What regrets might we have if we left the earth today?


Just food for thought.  Kind of like writing your own epitaph exercise . . .


Below is a poem I wrote in 2001.  This type of reflection comes for me each year as I put away the Christmas decorations and sit staring at what seems like an empty house.  All the extra warmth and laughter--those jolly good times have drifted off into memories.  The cold walls have no more glow of soft lights and bright red, gold, and green festiveness.  The nativity scenes are back in brown boxes hiding away to burst forth again next Christmas to celebrate the hope we have because of Him who gave his life for us.  


As the first day of each new year draws closer, I sit down and prepare the calendars that will hang on the walls next year by writing down the birthdays and special events coming in the new year.  As I thumb through the pages one by one, I can almost see the next year passing before me.  I can never believe I'm putting away another year and attempting to organize another.  A year gone so quickly.  In a blink of an eye and I'm looking at the beginning of another unknown--the future waiting . . .

Life Cycle

Pages of the calendar,

Like winds on churning seas,

Turning, dropping, lifting,

As fall does to the leaves.

Younger years meander,

As trickling streams through trees.

Older years are water falls

Of memories to seize.

Embrace every eddy;

Flow over the rocks of pain.

This life like rivers going

Will circle around again.

I'd better get my sails up if I expect to make headway into this new year!

Feeling the Holy Ghost: Power of the Holy Spirit

Nightingale - Yanni

Beautiful music brings happiness.