A thought for the Day

[Hemi-mom]

<font size=4> Wisdom…

A grandfather said to his six-year-old granddaughter, "I’ll give you a quarter if you can tell me where God is."

The young girl wisely replied, "I’ll give you two quarters if you can tell me where God isn’t." </font>

 

[Dan Murphy]

Wise indeed, Hemi-mom.

Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but only waits to be provoked.
- Katherine Anne Porter

We often enter into our relationships believing there is one perfect way to act, and if we can only find that way, we'll be successful, accepted. But there is no such thing as "one best way" to be with another person. The wonder of any relationship is that it involves two imperfect people.

Believing that perfection will ensure love is addictive thinking. Love is a gift that must be given freely; there is nothing we can do to control someone else's choice to love us or not love us. All we can do is our part by teaming each day to love as best we can. It may be difficult to find within ourselves such qualities as emotional maturity; separateness, honesty; forgiveness, patience, and self-respect. But those are the very qualities we must cultivate to love someone else.

It can be frightening to trust another person enough to take risks and let go of the outcome. But love is a risk that's worth it.


---Answers In The Heart

 

[helenabear]

Jill, very very wise words indeed

Dan, that was a beautiful thought there... I will try to keep these words in my mind more often. Very true is this part in particular:

It can be frightening to trust another person enough to take risks and let go of the outcome. But love is a risk that's worth it.

Thank you all for these great thoughts!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Service is the rent you pay for room on this earth.
--Shirley Chisholm

None of us could have reached this day entirely on our own. Each
of us can look back at moments in our lives when we've been
helped or encouraged by another person. A family member,
teacher, sponsor, or friend may have offered us mentoring or
unconditional love. The words or example of a stranger, a public
figure, an artist, or a writer may have afforded us inspiration at just
the moment when we needed encouragement.

We can do no less for others as we continue our own journeys. We
do not have to take responsibility for others' lives, nor should we
disregard our own needs. But there are many ways we can make a
difference, each according to our preference. We can offer time
and talent to our community, recovery program, or family of
choice. We can share our experience, strength, and hope with
individuals or groups. We can show up and do some of the work
that's necessary to maintain the institutions that have offered so
much to us. We can keep it by giving it away.


Glad Day by Joan Larkin

 

[helenabear]

As always, thank you Dan!


Whether or not we realize it each of us has a special gift inside us just waiting to surface!...We owe developing these gifts not only to ourselves, but those around us as well... The important thing here is not what your gift is as much as that you develop it so that you can share it with those around you and in the process further your own personal life!... Once we have identified our special talents it doesn't matter whether or not we find immediate success in them, what does matter is that we take a step each day towards our intended goal! ~Josh Hinds

 

[Dan Murphy]

People may doubt what I say, but they always believe what I do.
—Ellie E.


It's maddening and frustrating when people don't believe what we say. Not that they think we're liars, exactly—just that they don't believe us. When we tell them we've made a commitment, for example, they may just roll their eyes as if to say, "Oh sure, tell me another one."

Actions speak a lot louder than words. Before, maybe many times before, we might have told the same people about making the same commitment. And then we gave it up almost as soon as we said it. Eventually our words have no credence to anyone— including ourselves. If we want people to believe us, we have to follow up on what we say. If we say we won't tolerate abuse, we have to do what it takes to stop it. If we say we are going to take better care of ourselves, we have to make a plan of action and stick to it. Talk is cheap.

It is amazing how quickly we can regain credibility when we walk our talk.


---Days of Healing, Days of Joy

 

[Dan Murphy]

Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.
— Abraham Heschel

There are many ways to pray, and each of us has a style that uniquely expresses our spirituality. Once we open ourselves to our Higher Power we can get comfortable with our own way of praying. It may mean leaving past ways behind. Maybe we've been used to prayer that relied only on words. Perhaps we used to pray for what we wanted, making sure we told God precisely what was best for us and everybody else. Or maybe we didn't pray at all because we didn't know how to or were afraid.

We need not worry about how to pray; our Higher Power shows us how. We must, however, be willing to move from the everyday world to a place where it is just our Higher Power and us. It is an exciting part of our spiritual journey to develop new ways to pray, trusting our relationship with our Higher Power to deepen the experience. What matters is that we give ourselves to it. When our prayer is from the heart, we know it and are at peace.

---Answers In The Heart

 

[helenabear]

When our prayer is from the heart, we know it and are at peace.

very true...


Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them . . . work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls . . . family, health, friends and spirit . . . are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.--Author Unknown

 

[Dan Murphy]

No human creature can give orders to love.
--George Sand

If we're trying to get others to love us, all we're really doing is
trying to be in control. Trying to control others can be a powerful
drug. Remember, we can't control others. We can't make others
love us. Our Higher Power has control, not us.

So, what do we need to do? Turn things over to our Higher Power
and just be ourselves.

Sure, it can scare us to just be ourselves. The truth is, not everyone
will love us. But if we're honest about who we are, others will
respect us. We'll like ourselves better. And we'll have a better
chance of loving others and being loved.


--Keep It Simple by Anonymous

 

[Buckalew]

Helenabear and dan,
I love all of these. The fact that a higher power does help us pray was something I learned not long ago. The Holy Spirit does just this for us with each prayer and I'm thankful to Him for that. Sometimes, I just have a hard time expressing myself. (Hush, Dan. )

Turning things over to a higher power... for a control freak like me, that is something I have to give to God everyday.

 

[Hemi-mom]

Laura Wilkinson, after receiving the Olympic Gold medal for platform diving in Sydney 2000 games quotes the apostle Paul in the Bible..."I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13, giving credit where credit is due!

 

[Hemi-mom]

"[God] is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him."

C.S. Lewis--The Problem of Pain

 

[Hemi-mom]

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the
students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles,of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed. He asked his students
again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was. The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up every-thing else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the
important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your
job, house, or car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff."

"If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important."

Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out dancing.
There will always be time to go to
work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
Take care of the rocks first - the
things that really matter.
Set your priorities, the rest is just pebbles and sand.

 

[helenabear]

Hemi-mom I love what you just posted... so very very true and I wanted to say I must be blind, but I just now noticed your tag Those who sing pray twice I really love that though a lot

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
Sure, it can scare us to just be ourselves. The truth is, not everyone
will love us. But if we're honest about who we are, others will
respect us. We'll like ourselves better. And we'll have a better
chance of loving others and being loved.

This struck me as very true... thank you for that great thought Dan...

 

[Dan Murphy]

Jilly, I love the rock analogy, so true.


Strain and struggle abound when we try to do everything
ourselves, our way. We want positive change to occur
immediately and expect miracles to happen according to our
personal timetable. We sometimes feel that if our Higher Power is
guiding us, we should be able to accomplish great and marvelous
things constantly.

To remember "easy does it" is to humbly realize that we are not
all-powerful and that God does not expect us to be all things to all
people. Growth is slow, time belongs to God, and change will
occur according to His plan. If we do the jobs we have been given
for this 24-hour period, our Higher Power will take care of
tomorrow.

How much more agreeable life is when we do not overextend
ourselves but admit our weakness and trust God to take care of us.
We do not shirk our share, but we do not try to carry the whole
load. Only our Higher Power is strong enough to do that.

---Food for Thought by Elisabeth L.

 

[helenabear]

Thank you Dan... I really needed to see that one right now

 

[Hemi-mom]

"In the beginning, God created..."--Genesis 1:1

"God is so powerful that "nothing" obeys Him. Look to the skies...look into your child's eyes...behold your awesome God." --Robert Gelinas

 

[Hemi-mom]

Originally "Quoted" by Dan Murphy
Growth is slow, time belongs to God, and change will occur according to His plan. --Elizabeth L.

In his book, See Yourself as God Sees You, Josh McDowell talks about his personal experience with transformation as a process...

"When I trusted Christ as my Savior, my perception of who I am was not transformed automatically. I did not enjoy immediate victory over the deep scars of my past. However when I trusted Christ, I did receive the Holy Spirit, who has helped heal old wounds and helped restore my true identity. From that point on it has been a process of growth toward seeing myself through God's eyes and learning to behave accordingly. The positive changes I find in myself today seem almost unbelievable. Still after all these years the process continues. It will until I die.

As a Christian I have become a new person inside. At that point, the process of understanding my true identity began. Paul tells us, 'Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!' (2 Corinthians 5:17)

If you are like me, you have wished that some of the external things about your past had changed. You may also have some past experiences that you wish would disappear. But the newness Paul talked about is spiritual in nature. It describes the internal changes that begin to affect us as we start to grow spiritually in the weeks and months after our conversion. We come to see ourselves as God sees us, through an ongoing intimate relationship with Him."

Originally "Quoted" by Dan Murphy
How much more agreeable life is when we do not overextend ourselves but admit our weakness and trust God to take care of us. --Elizabeth L.

The above quote applies to WHO WE ARE as well as WHAT WE DO!

 

[Hemi-mom]

"Those who sing, pray twice!" --Saint Augustine

 

[helenabear]

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and
love has always won. There have always been tyrants and murderers, and for a
time they can seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Think of it,
always. Whenever you are in doubt that that is God's way, the way the world
is meant to be, think of that -- and then try to do it His way.
--Gandhi