Past noon one day, the
minister noticed that old Jim hadn't come. As more days passed without
him, he began to worry some. At the factory, he asked about him,
learning he was ill. The hospital staff was worried, but he'd given
them a thrill.
The week that Jim was with
them, brought changes in the ward. The head nurse couldn't understand
why Jim was so glad, when no flowers, calls or cards came, not a
visitor he had.
The minister stayed by his bed, he voiced the
nurse's concern: No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to
turn. Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome
smile;
"The nurse is wrong, she couldn't know, that in here all
the while, everday at noon He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see,
He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to
me:
I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU JIM,
HOW HAPPY I
HAVE BEEN,
SINCE WE FORMED THIS FRIENDSHIP,
AND I TOOK AWAY
YOUR SIN.
ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY,
I THINK ABOUT YOU
EVERY DAY
AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN."
~ author unknown
~
†
What If
What if, GOD couldn't take the time to bless us today
because we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?
What if, GOD decided to stop leading us tomorrow
because
we didn't follow Him today?
What if, we never saw another
flower bloom
because we grumbled when GOD sent the rain?
What if, GOD didn't walk with us today
because we failed
to recognize it as His day?
What if, GOD took away the Bible
tomorrow
because we would not read it today?
What if,
GOD took away His message
because we failed to listen to the
messenger?
What if, GOD didn't send His only begotten Son
because He wanted us to be prepared to pay the price for sin.
What if, the door of the church was closed
because we
did not open the door of our heart?
What if, GOD stopped
loving and caring for us
because we failed to love and care for
others?
What if, GOD would not hear us today
because we
would not listen to Him yesterday?
What if, GOD answered our
prayers
the way we answer His call to service?
What if,
GOD met our needs
the way we give His needs in our lives???
What if, GOD just didn't care???
~ ©grandma
~
†
NEVER GIVE UP ~
KEEP ON SINGING !!
Like any good mother, when
Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she
could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling.
They found out that the new baby was going to be a girl, and day after
day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in
Mommy's tummy. He was building a bond of love with his little sister
before even met her.
The pregnancy progressed normally for
Karen, an active member of the Panther Creek United Methodist Church
in Morristown, Tennessee. In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was
every five minutes.. every three.. every minute. But serious
complications arose during delivery and Karen found herself in hours
of labor. Would a C-section be required? Finally, after a long
struggle, Michael's little sister was born. But she was in very
serious condition. With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance
rushed the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary's
Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee.
The days inched by. The little
girl got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents, "There is
very little hope. Be prepared for the worst." Karen and her husband
contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot.
They had fixed
up a special room in their house for their new baby but now they found
themselves having to plan for a funeral. Michael, however, kept
begging his parents to let him see his sister. "I want to sing to
her," he kept saying.
Week two in intensive care looked as if
a funeral would come before the week was over. Michael kept nagging
about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in intensive
care. Karen made up her mind, though. She would take Michael whether
they liked it or not! If he didn't see his sister right then, he may
never see her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and
marched him into ICU.
He looked like a walking laundry basket.
But the head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, "Get that
kid out of here now! No children are allowed." The mother rose up
strong in Karen, and the usually mild- mannered lady glared steel-eyed
right into the head nurse's face, her lips a firm line. "He is not
leaving until he sings to his sister!"
Karen towed Michael to
his sister's bedside. He gazed at the tiny infant losing the battle to
live. After a moment, he began to sing. In a pure- hearted voice of a
3-year-old, Michael sang: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you
make me happy when skies are gray..." Instantly the baby girl seemed
to respond. The pulse rate began to calm down and become steady. "Keep
on singing, Michael," encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. "You
never know, dear, how much I love you, Please don't take my sunshine
away..."
As Michael sang to his sister, the baby's ragged,
strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten's purr. "Keep on
singing, sweetheart!!!". "The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I
dreamed I held you in my arms..." Michael's little sister began to
relax as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her. "Keep on
singing, Michael." Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head
nurse. Karen glowed. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please
don't, take my sunshine away..."
The next day...the very next
day...the little girl was well enough to go home! Woman's Day Magazine
called it "The Miracle of a Brother's Song." The medical staff just
called it a miracle. Karen called it a miracle of God's love!
.....
~
author unknown ~
†
L I F
E
Don't undermine your
worth
by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are
different
that each of us is special.
Don't set your
goals
by what other people deem important.
Only you know
what
is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things
closest to
your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
for without
them, life is meaningless.
Don't let your life slip through your
fingers
by living in the past or for the future.
By living your
life one day at a time,
you live all the days of your life.
Don't give up
when you still have something to
give.
Nothing is really over
until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit
that you are less than
perfect.
It is this fragile thread
that binds us each together.
Don't be afraid
to encounter risks.
It is by taking
chances
that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of
your life
by saying it's impossible to find.
The quickest way to
receive love is to give it
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it
too tightly
And the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your dreams.
To be without dream
is to be
without hope
To be without hope
is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast that you forget...
Not only
where you've been,
but also where you are going.
Life is not a
race,
but a journey to be savored
each step of the way.
Yesterday is History
Tomorrow is a Mystery
And Today ~
Today is a gift;
that's why we call it
"The Present
"
~ author unknown ~
†
THE
WINDOW
Two men, both seriously ill,
occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his
bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend
all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their
jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been
on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window
could sit up,
he would pass the time by describing to his
room-mate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in
the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world
would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the
world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely
lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their
model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every
colour of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a
fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the
man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on
the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the
picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window
described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear
the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the
window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Then unexpectedly,
a sinister thought entered his mind. Why should the other man alone
experience all the pleasures of seeing everything while he himself
never got to see anything? It didn't seem fair. At first thought the
man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more
sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour.
He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He
should be by that window that thought, and only that thought now
controlled his life.
Late one night as he lay staring at the
ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the
fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the
struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help.
Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own
button which would have brought the nurse running in.
In less
than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with that
the sound of breathing. Now there was only silence -- deathly silence.
The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for
their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the
window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it
away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if
he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the
switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take
his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of
seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the
window beside the bed.
It faced a blank wall.
Epilogue. . . . You can interpret the story in any way you
like. But one moral stands out: There is tremendous happiness in
making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half
the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel
rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy.
~ author unknown
~
†
Life's Simple
Things
If your
wants and needs are simple
They'll know no bounds or measure
It's the simple little things in life
That bring the greatest
pleasure
The sun shining warmly on your face
A puppy dog
wagging his tail
An hour away from life's rat race
A balmy lake
on which to sail
The pure simplicity of a child
A fluffy
kitten purring
A country picnic just for two
A rose's soft
alluring
An anticipated bubble bath
Catching A glimpse of a
falling star
A slow walk down memory lane
The smell of a brand
new car
This is only a small sample
Of the treasures that we
store...
Of life's greatest little things,
Each day we add so
many more.
~ author unknown
~
†
Attitude Is
Everything
Joey was the kind of guy you
love to hate. He was always in a good mood, and always had something
positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would
reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a
unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him
around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed
Joey was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an
employee was having a bad day, Joey was there telling the employee how
to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this
style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Joey and asked
him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all the time. How
do you do it?"
Joey replied, "Each morning I wake up and say
to myself, Joey, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a
good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a
good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a
victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept
their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I
choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that
easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Joey said. "Life is about
choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.
You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will
affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The
bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected
on what Joey said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to
start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him
when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Joey did something you are
never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door
open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.
While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness,
slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.
Luckily, Joey was found relatively quickly and was rushed to the local
trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care,
Joey was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets
still in his body. I saw Joey about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I
would be twins! Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his
wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery
took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I
should have locked the back door," Joey replied. "Then, as I lay on
the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to
live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live."
Did you lose
consciousness?" I asked. Joey continued, "The paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me
into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the
doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's
a dead man', I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you
do?" I asked.
"Well there was a big, burly nurse shouting
questions at me," said Joey. "She asked me if I was allergic to
anything. Yes, I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as
they waited for my reply....I took a deep breath and yelled,
"BULLETS!" Over their laughter, I told them, I am choosing to live.
Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Joey lived thanks
to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.
I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything! (Either you control it, or it
controls you.)
~ author unknown ~
†
Sin
will take you farther than you intended to go.
It will keep you
longer than you intended to stay.
And it will cost you more than
you ever intended to pay.
†
Your
Dash
I read of a man
who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the
dates on her tombstone
From the beginning ... to the end.
He noted
that first came her date of birth
And spoke the following date with
tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between
those years. (1900-1970)
For that dash represents all the
time
That she spent alive on earth....
And now only those who loved
her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how
much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we
live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this
long and hard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you
never know how much time is left.
That can still be rearranged.
If
we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And
always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less
quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in
our lives
Like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with
respect,
And more often wear a smile...
Remembering that this
special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your
eulogy's being read
With your life's action's to rehash...
Would you
be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?
~ author unknown ~
†
Things
Aren't Always What They Seem...
Two traveling angels stopped
to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was
rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room.
Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement.
As
they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in
the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older
angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem..."
The
next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very
hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they
had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have
a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels
found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had
been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger
angel was infuriated and asked the older angel "how could you have let
this happen! The first man had everything, yet you helped him. The
second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you
let their cow die. Things aren't always what they seem...", the older
angel replied.
"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion,
I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the
owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good
fortune, I sealed the wall so he would never find it. Things aren't
always what they seem. Last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the
angel of death came for his wife. I told him to take the cow instead.
Things aren't always what they seem."
Sometimes this is
exactly what happens when things don't turnout the way we think they
should. If you have faith in God, just trust that every outcome is
always to your advantage. You might not realize it until much later,
but things do happen for a reason. ~
author unknown ~
Justice - When you get what
you deserve
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When
you get what you don't deserve
†
Heaven's Grocery
Store
I was walking down life's highway a long
time ago. One day I saw a sign that read, "HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE". As
I got a little closer, the door opened wide, and then I found myself
standing inside. I saw a host of ANGELS. They were standing
everywhere. One handed me a basket and said, "My Child, shop with
care". Everything a human needed was in that grocery store. And if you
couldn't carry all, you could come back the next day for more.
First, I got some PATIENCE. LOVE was in the same row. Further
down was UNDERSTANDING; you need that everywhere you go. I got a box
or two of WISDOM, a bag or two of FAITH. I just couldn't miss the HOLY
GHOST, for it was all over the place. I stopped to get some STRENGTH
and COURAGE to help me run this race. By then my basket was getting
full, but I remembered I needed some GRACE. I didn't forget SALVATION,
for SALVATION was free. So I tried to get enough of that to save both
you and me.
Then I started up to the counter to pay my grocery
bill. For I thought I had everything to do the MASTER'S will. As I
went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER; and I just had to put that in, for I
knew when I stepped outside, I would run into sin. PEACE and JOY were
plentiful; they were last on the shelf. SONG and PRAISE were hanging
near, so I just helped myself.
Then I said to the angel, "Now,
how much do I owe?" He smiled again and said, "MY CHILD, GOD PAID YOUR
BILL A LONG, LONG TIME AGO."
This blessing came from Venezuela
and was written by Saul Anthony Lavoid, a missionary from South
America. It has been around the world 9 times and has now been brought
to you. ....... ~ author unknown
~
†
Your Best
Friend
You say: "It's impossible" ~
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)
You say:
"I'm too tired" ~
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew
11:28-30)
You say: "Nobody really loves me" ~
God says: I love
you
(John 3:16 & John 13:34)
You say: "I can't go on" ~
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm
91:15)
You say: "I can't figure things out" ~
God says: I will
direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
You say: "I can't do it" ~
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)
You
say: "I'm not able" ~
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians
9:8)
You say: "It's not worth it" ~
God says: It will be
worth it
(Roman 8:28)
You say: "I can't forgive myself" ~
God says: I FORGIVE YOU
(I John1:9 & Romans
8:1)
You say: "I can't manage" ~
God says: I will supply
all your needs
(Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I'm afraid" ~
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear
(II Timothy
1:7)
You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated" ~
God says:
Cast all your cares on ME
(I Peter 5:7)
You say: "I don't have
enough faith" ~
God says: I've given everyone a measure of faith
(Romans 12:3)
You say: "I'm not smart enough" ~
God
says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30)
You
say: "I feel all alone" ~
God says: I will never leave you
or forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)
~
author unknown ~
†
Fold Your
Wings
Fold your wings, Little
Bird,
And mold yourself to me without a word.
Tuck your head
against my chest.
It strengthens me to give you rest.
You've worked
hard against the wind,
But now your trust I must defend.
Your
Friends at school turned against you.
You've not a clue of what to
do,
But still are anxious to be right
And would really rather not
fight.
Listen children while Mother sings:
Fold your wings,
Little Bird,
And mold yourself to me without a word.
Tuck your head
against my chest.
It strengthens me to give you rest.
You've worked
hard against the wind,
But now your trust I must defend.
At last
this working day is through
And eager, I come home to you.
There you
greet me with weary tears
Our children's fighting rings your
ears
Still you listen when I sing:
Fold your wings, Little
Bird,
And mold yourself to me without a word.
Tuck your head against
my chest.
It strengthens me to give you rest.
You've worked hard
against the wind,
But now your trust I must defend.
When all is
quiet within our nest
With the knowledge I tried my best
To love
others as You ask
I kneel before You and this task
Then listen to
You, my Lord, as you sing:
Fold your wings, Little Bird,
And
mold yourself to me without a word.
Tuck your head against my
chest.
It strengthens me to give you rest.
You've worked hard
against the wind,
But now your trust I must defend.
~ (c) 10/9/97 by David Smith ~
Life
is changed, † not taken away.
To
live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.