Blog Posts

HUMOR 622

3/21/2020

       HUMOR 622

   In this daily drudgery whereupon we trip over
so many of the foibles and fumbles of mankind,
perhaps we shall one day discover the sanest
of men are those who have learned to laugh
loudest at themselves.

For after all, "Humor is a sense of proportion"
(Kahlil Gibran). And, while there is time for
seriousness, there remains, on the scale of life,
abundant room for humor.

James Thurber stated that humor was "one
   of our greatest and earliest national resources
which must be preserved at all cost."

   (Before we leave this article, we do have one
   final question....Has anybody heard about the
elephant that sauntered into the Democratic
headquarters and ... )

(First published on May 22, 1974, with revisions
made on March 21, 2020)

SEND ME 454

3/21/2020

SEND ME 454

  If you read the New Testament carefully, you
will discover that the disciples of Jesus Christ
were usually being sent somewhere, in distance from
a half mile to several hundred miles.

If Christ were to send us somewhere today,
would it matter where? And, would we go?

Ponder these lines by George M. Matheson...

Send me
     To the hearts without a home
To the lives without a love
To the crowd without a compass
To the ranks without a refuge
Send me
   To the children whom none have blessed
To the famished whom none have visited
To the demoniacs whom none have claimed
Send me
To the fallen whom none have lifted
To the lepers whom none have touched
To the bereaved whom none have comforted
Then I shall have the birthright of the fist born
Then shall I have the blessing of the mighty God
of Jacob

PROVERBS 2:3,4,5

3/15/2020

   PROVERBS 2:3,4,5

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding

    If thou seekest her as silver and searchest
for her as for hid treasures

Then shalt thou understand the fear
of the Lord, and find the knowledge
of God

SAINTS ALIVE

3/14/2020

   SAINTS ALIVE

                                         Have you ever noticed how much
                                         easier it is to venerate a dead saint
                                        than a live one? Have you ever
                                         wondered why?

                                        Perhaps the answer lies within these
                                         words by an unknown author, taken
                                       from a card from St. Stephen's Church
                                         in Philadelphia...

                                        "Why were the saints, saints?
                                         Because they were cheerful
when it was difficult to be cheerful,
patient when it was difficult
                                         to be patient; and because they
                                         pushed on when they wanted
                                         to stand still, and kept silent when
                                         they wanted to talk, and were agreeable
                                         when they wanted to be disagreeable
                                         That was all. It was simple and always
                                         will be."

                                         Many are called to be saints...
                                         but few are chosen.

PROVERBS 1:20,23,33

3/8/2020

PROVERBS 1:20,23,33

Wisdom crieth without;she
uttereth her voice in the streets

Turn you at my reproof: behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you
I will make known my words
unto you

Whoso hearken unto me shall
dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil

LITTLE CANDLES

3/8/2020

   LITTLE CANDLES

                                      George Bernard Shaw made this wise
observation...

  "I am sure that if people had to
choose between living where the noise
of children never stopped and where it
was never heard, all the good-natured
   and wise people would prefer the
   incessant noise to the incessant silence."

                                 Many years ago, we read this to our sweet
   wife, and she replied, "let me think about
that for awhile, I'm not too sure."

   Of course, this was after a full week of
having all four (count them, four) children
   at home from school with colds.

                                 Albeit, there is bickering, quarreling and
fighting from time to time, we would be
   quite lonely and miserable without our
   children.

                                 For their lives are little candles, whose flames
                                continue, in this darkened world, to lighten our
                                 path with a celestial glow.

                                (And this continues even more so to this day,
   and now includes our 12 wonderful grandchildren,
and one great grandson.)

(First published on March 27, 2014 with revisions
made on March 8, 2020.)

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES 601

3/8/2020

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES 601

"Let us not desert the ship in the tempest
because we can't control the winds."

Sir Thomas More probably was referring to the
Ship of State when he penned these lines.

But, we believe this could apply equally well
to the partnership of marriage.

Too many marriages are ship-wrecked because
the captain and the first mate to quickly exclaim
"Abandon Ship," at the first sign of grey cloud.

Sea battles have been won, and marriages have
remained in tact, through the acceptance of the
motto, "Don't give up the ship."

The cargo is too precious. Aye, too valuable,
to let any storm of life overcome the marriage
relationship.

FLOATING GENTLY ON THE WIND

2/29/2020

   FLOATING GENTLY ON THE WIND

  It snowed again, last night
Falling gently on the wind
Touching every particle of ground
Spreading loveliness all around and
Claiming redemption for my hometown

  Perhaps one day we shall see
Our Savior face to face
As our dreaded sins turn to snow
Until such time, O Lord,
We wait for thee

(Written on February 11, 2019, with
revisions made on February 29, 2020)

THE WINTER WRITER 588 poem

2/26/2020

   THE WINTER WRITER 588

O season of the blustery snow
                           And of the rain, the storm, the gale
We welcome thee without any fright
As the temperature freezing all below
Invites us to write, and to write again

Of seasons past
Of warmer days bereft of snow
We sense tis quite all right
To extol the virtues of winter
The months of shorter days
Followed by days of longer nights
Invite us to write, and to write again

Regardless of the chilly weather
Give us paper. Give us pen.
Sit us at our desk and then
Let us enjoy, let us delight
As these windy, wintry days
Invite us to write, and to write again

(First published on February 15, 1979.
Revisions made on February 26, 2020)

GRADUATION 2020

2/26/2020

      GRADUATION 2020

Whether it be from high school or from a university,
                             graduation is, indeed, a laudable accomplishment.
                             But, as most graduates soon realize, a degree is
                           seldom an end-all, be-all proposition.

                            Rather, graduation is the tying of a knot in our
                             rope of life.The graduation knot much more
                           signifies a beginning than an ending;a graduation
                            toward something as opposed to a gradution from
                             something.

                             It is impossible to change "the way we were," but
                             the possibities for change towared "what we shall
                            become," are infinite. We can only expect to live
                            in the present as we rush toward the future. The
                            past is past.

                            With these thoughts in mind, perhaps gravitation, in
                             the long run, becomes more significant than graduation.

(First Posted in May, 2013)