A thought for the Day

[Buckalew]

Eros, I love how you just show up in the most unusual places!

I can't debate faith in God with you. But the God I believe in IS the creator of nature that you speak of. I believe, you don't. God loves us just the same. (Even though you don't believe that.) BTW, do you do this to your God loving wife?

 

[helenabear]

Sometimes I think we lose sight of what is important in life...

Life is Too Precious

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

---Mother Theresa

 

[Dan Murphy]

Life IS precious, Elaine.

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.
—Carl Rogers

Not only the good life, but all life, is a process. If we get a clear enough picture, we can see that nothing happens all at once, nothing totally "isn't" and then totally "is." That part of us that generates pain and fear came into being over time. We didn't get fearful all at once, but bit by bit, experience by experience. Part of us learned to expect the worst, to cringe in hiding, to settle for crumbs.

Developing a healthy, comfortable way of life is likewise a process. The part of us that expects improvement, that dares to stand tall and demand our rights, also builds up bit by bit over time. That's why it's so important to celebrate every success, no matter how small. The direction is right this time. We have every reason to expect health and happiness. As long as we're moving ahead, we're getting there.

I accept the fact that life is a journey. I've given up the delusion that an "arrival" is necessary for happiness.



--Days of Healing Days of Joy

 

[Dan Murphy]

Brenda and Stamper, I know too how you feel about the Christian education. We sent Vince and Natalie to parochial school, 9 years of grade and four years of high school. Though there were times we would have enjoyed spending the money elsewhere, we felt it worthwhile to have the presence of God brought into their daily learning. The whole person was first and foremost as a theme of their education. My best to you both to 'stay the course'.

 

[Buckalew]

Thanks, Dan. I have caught more flack for sending Hunter to Christian school (mostly by Christians) than any other decision I have ever made. Of course, I'm really learning to speak up for my beliefs about it quite nicely now. I can't imagine why some people feel the need to cbe critical of this decision.

 

[EROS]

Of course, IF there really is a GOD, then certainly his/her presence in a child's education can be quite beneficial. However, Christian values can also become an indoctrination as well.

My first g.f. in Boston was from a strongly Irish Catholic family; her dad was a homicide detective in the Boston Police Dept (he kept me on the straight and narrow ). Anyway, Arlene was educated through parochial schools and was then accepted into Boston College, a Jesuit institution. While there, she began to question the precepts which had been drilled into her from k-12; specifically, the way in which the Church viewed women, sexuality, and abortion. Before I met her, she ended up abandoning Catholicism as she entered into graduate school.

I rented a ski house in Vermont for a number of years with some other doctors. It was near a monastery which had folk masses each day. I'd attend Mass on Sunday with my friends, primarily as a celebration of life. However, Arlene could not even bring herself to enter the chapel with us .

 

[Buckalew]

That is a sad story Eros. Maybe Arlene found her way back to God.

 

[Hemi-mom]

All in due time...

How often, Lord, I've wanted life
to be as I preferred,
impatient to reach all my goals,
insisting I be heard.
How many times I questioned You,
embarking on a feat,
unwilling to be passenger,
but in the driver's seat.
How seldom I was patient
as I begged that life be calm,
not believing all along
that I was in Your palm.
How fast possessions slip away,
though often I would cling
to things thought safe instead of trusting
what Your will would bring.
Be with me, Lord, as I search for
another hill to climb.
I know rewards will come to me,
all in the Lord's due time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In His time
In His time
He makes all things beautiful in His time

Lord Please show me everyday
As You're teaching me Your way
That You do just what You say
In Your time

In Your time
In Your time
You make all things beautiful in Your time

Lord, my life to You I bring
May each song I have to sing
Be to You a lovely thing
In Your time

 

[helenabear]

Beautiful thoughts there Jilly! Thank you so much

 

[stamper]

Thanks Dan for your encouragement!

Brenda, sorry to hear that people give you flack about your choice in schools - hang in there, you are doing the right thing for you and DD!

 

[helenabear]

I just wanted to let you all know (especially Denise, Brenda & Stamper) that you are in my prayers. Brenda & Stamper, don't let anything get in the way of the decision to have your children go to Christian schools. I think it is wonderful to be able to do that and I wish you both the best. Denise, know I think of you often and pray that you will find the means to get on top of everything financially.

I recently have felt very blessed for my friends here and elsewhere so when I saw this I just had to share it will you all:

Thank You Friend

I never came to you, my friend,
and went away without
some new enrichment of the heart;
More faith and less of doubt,
more courage in the days ahead.
And often in great need coming to you,
I went away comforted indeed.
How can I find the shining word,
the glowing phrase that tells all that
your love has meant to me,
all that your friendship spells?
There is no word, no phrase for
you on whom I so depend.
All I can say to you is this,
God bless you precious friend.
-Grace Noll Crowell

 

[stamper]

Elaine, Thanks so much for your kind words and especially your prayers! I think we are all blessed to have great friends like the ones here on the DIS!

 

[Dan Murphy]

All things work together for good to them that love God.
—Romans 8:28

Sometimes it's very hard to believe that God knows what He's doing. We are told to stop trying to control everything, so we do. We "Let Go," we "Turn It Over." We pry our grip off people, places, and things. As much as we want to hang on, we force ourselves to let God run the show. Then we wait and watch for the good things to start happening.

Most of the time events continue to unfold as unevenly as they always did. Accidents happen while setbacks, injustices, and evil get rewarded, and good goes begging. We feel that our letting go is mocked, that God isn't doing a better job than we did. Why isn't He performing?

But God can write straight with crooked lines. God's timetable may well not be the same as ours. What is asked is that we learn to believe without seeing and to trust when it seems we could do so much better.

Today, I pray for the faith to go the distance. Like a child leaping into a parent's arms, I know that l am too precious to drop.



---Days of Healing Days of Joy

 

[Dan Murphy]

We all travel a journey of letting go and moving on to different
people, places, and things. The older we get, the more we realize
we can't always expect life to go our way or to keep on going the
same way without change. Facing disappointments and accepting
the reality of what we don't get is part of life. It isn't easy to grieve
and accept our "necessary losses."

When we look back over our years we can begin to see a tapestry
that makes more sense now than it did when we were going
through it. Yes, there is a meaningful and lovely pattern to the big
picture. This knowledge of an overall rightness of our direction
helps us face the coming years more wisely. We now find that we
are surviving life pretty well in spite of ourselves and are starting
to relax enough to let in some joy. We are beginning to see
tomorrow more as an advantage than a trial.

Today, let me understand the freedom I will get as I accept the
concept of necessary losses.

---Seasons of the Spirit by Sally Coleman and Maria Porter

 

[helenabear]

Great thoughts Dan... I particularly liked this...

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
We now find that we are surviving life pretty well in spite of ourselves and are starting
to relax enough to let in some joy. We are beginning to see tomorrow more as an advantage than a trial.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Before the rain stops we hear a bird. Even under the heavy snow
we see snowdrops and some new growth.
--Shunryu Suzuki

The signals that new growth is underway are often very small at first.
It's sometimes discouraging when we are trying to remake our lives
and all we can see for our efforts is minor growth. That is how the
natural world works, and we are part of this world. When the little
sprouts of growth first develop under the snow in spring, we don't even
see them unless we search. Yet, they signal the beginnings of a total
transformation. Time will bring vast changes, but only little signs are
showing first.

Today, we may search for signs of progress in our lives. The little
things we see may signal bigger transformations yet to come. To be
true to them in the long run we must accept them -- even welcome
them -- as they are today.

----Touchstones by Anonymous

 

[Buckalew]

Thanks for all these psots and words of encouragement.
Special thanks to Helenabear for her prayers and words of support to me. I'm still doing as Dan posted above(Letting go and letting God) and I don't have an update to let you know about on that prayer request but I wanted to say thanks to each of you.

 

[helenabear]

Brenda, I certainly hope you are able to come to a resolution soon with what ever you are struggling with. Letting go and letting God is hard at time (at least for me) but it usually works out for the best. Know that you are still in my thoughts and prayers and I do hope for the best for you! {{HUGS}} to you!!

And thank you Dan for the beautiful thought today... I liked it very much so!

 

[helenabear]

Love the moment and the energy of the moment will spread beyond all boundaries.
— Corita Kent

When we quiet our mind, bypassing our thoughts about the hour or day before, or our fear over what may come tomorrow, we can more easily relish each moment—this moment. We too often succumb to the seduction of worrying about the past and future, which are beyond our control. Our unwillingness to give up this obsessive thinking keeps the joy and serenity we long for out of reach. We forget that the power lies within us to clear our mind and to fully experience the peace of the moment.

Quieting our mind requires commitment and practice. We can circumvent any thoughts and experience moments of peace—a peace that will become as seductive as our old obsession to worry.

I will choose to give up worry today and enjoy many peace-filled moments instead.



From the book, In God's Care

 

[helenabear]

Freedom is like taking a bath -- you have to keep doing it every day!
--Flo Kennedy

Nothing stands still. Change is the law of life. We may sometimes feel
that our personal gains have to be won over and over and over again.
But looked at from another perspective, that's not so: our solid personal
gains are the ones that no one and nothing can take away from us.

They are tools for continued growth. Jobs, lovers, houses may change,
but serenity and freedom of spirit are within our power to achieve --
to maintain -- or to give away.

Freedom means choice: our choice of what we do with our bodies,
our money, our lives. If we decline to choose, the choice will be made for
us. If we don't use or claim our freedom, we are giving it away. Our
lives need our active, creative participation every moment.

Like bathing, I must daily exercise my freedom. No one can do it for me.


--- The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg