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HOW SHALL WE LIVE THIS DAY? How shall we live this day? With Confidence... that sunshine always follows the rain. that the light of dawn is the natural sequence to the darkness after dusk. With Hope... the predecessor of miracles that give courage to the weak, and confidence to the strong. With Faith... that people can and do change. that circumstances shall be altered with time and trust in a living, loving, Lord. How shall we live this day?... Why, Joyfully, of course.
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THE OPEN DOOR The Open Door of life offers us two opportunities... The opportunity of looking outward. The opportunity of looking inward. Many persons spend most of their lives looking outward, quite often with distain. They often fail to spot the roses, being blinded by the thorns. Others spend too much time in introspection. There is a time, and a need, for looking inward, but, sooner or later we must come down from our mountain tops and work with the people in the valleys... Moses did. Christ did. Can we afford not to? Perhaps there is a need for balance between entering in and going out. After all, no one will survive long who only breathes out, or who only breathes in. AMERICA (THOUGHT TWO) 187 "What is liberty without wisdom, and virtue," wrote Edmund Burke. Liberty without wisdom leads to anarchy. Liberty without virtue leads to despotism. How does a country regain or maintain its liberty? The psalmist, King David, stated this profound aphorism... "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12) And, "where the Spirit of the Lord is., there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17) Liberty beckons us return... to wisdom and virtue. (Written on July 4, 1996) THE GATES ARE OPEN
Wrote Charles Sorley... "The gates are open on the road that leads to beauty and to God." No walls, no matter how thick No fences, no matter how high No guards, no matter how many Can keep us encumbered or bound If our hearts are right with God. If our hearts are right with God Those walls become windows Those fences become rose trellises Those guards become our friends For no chains may fetter The upward bound soul God's gates are always open To all those who would enter in PURE COURTESY "Life is not so short," wrote Emerson, "but there is always time for courtesy." We live in a world of push and shove. In a world of little give and a lot of take. In a world in which the courteous person becomes one of the fairest... and rarest... gems to contemplate. In commenting on the life of the of the great sportswriter, Grantland Rice, Bruce Barton said, "He had pure courtesy." What a great compliment...one of the finest compliments any of us could receive. Would not our lives be enriched if every thought, or word, or deed were a courteous one? Take time for courtesy. It is a most enviable attribute. (First published on July 25, 2012) CHEEP, CHEEP "The world," wrote Wordsworth, "is too much with us." Recently, on an early Sunday morning, following a good Saturday night's rain, we went outside to fetch the morning paper. The grass was dewy green, the air cool, the morning silent... except for the distant crowing of a cock, God's morning bugler. And ever so often, a mother bird flew fromher nest leaving behind her infant chorus echoing their melodic strains of "cheep, cheep-cheep, cheep." Alas, our bureaucratic, computerized society is too much with us. "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers Little we see in Nature that is ours." TAKE TIME
Today is a good day to take time... to write a poem to sing a happy song to hug our children closer to think more positively to finish up to rest to star anew to make a new friend to love an old enemy to cherish family traditions to put our homes in order to increase our prayer time to read the Good Book to rejoice in the Lord Take time...to be blessed (Written on July 3, 1975 #39) SOFT PILLOWS
There's an old French proverb that goes "There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience." And, it is difficult to have a clear conscience... without having a clean conscience A clear conscience considers thoughts that uplift while foregoing those that would tend to drag down A clean conscience presses toward that which is pure while dismissing thoughts puerile Clear and clean may sound like excellent descriptive adjectives for laundry detergents... But, clear and clean may also be excellent indicators of a soul's worth May every night find us resting on soft pillows FIREFLIES (1975)
The other night, we watched with silent awe as our children chased, caught and bottled... fireflies And, shades of nostalgia... we remember other little children of long ago, who also delighted in catching those little beaming beacons of the star-lit night sky Every season seems to have its simple pleasures, even summer with... the squeals and squeaks of children the splashing of ponds and pools the resonant croaking of our four-legged base and baritone friends the luxury of a shade tree... and picnics in the park It seems as though it was only yesterday... My, how time...and fire...flies. CREAM OF THE CROP
You're the cream of the crop if you... Are as courteous to your spouse as you are to your favorite business acquaintances Listen as intently and as empathetically to your children as you do the TV re-runs Have learned the verbal art of saying "I'm sorry," and "I love you." Can manage to go twenty-four hours without a single complaint Can applaud another person's ideas or handiwork without comparing his or hers to your own Can instill within your family, and others, the desire to have the upward reach |
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