Learning to Pack Lightly

by Michael Webb
Secrets of Blissful Relationships

Athena and I love to travel. We began traveling on our honeymoon and have been globetrotting ever since. We soon realized that there was a lot of things that we were taking along that we thought would enhance our trip, but in reality, the weight of the unnecessary items put a burden on us. The extra weight limited our enjoyment of our trip.
When we took a two-week tour through Europe, all we carried was a knapsack each. The minimal luggage allowed us to see and do more in two weeks than what many people can do in two months.
I think we all have to ask ourselves what kind of excess baggage are we maintaining in our relationship that might be weighing it down.
Here are just a few superfluous bags that might be keeping your relationship from being truly blissful.
# Not forgiving your mate of a wrong they did in the past
# Still worrying over your sweetheart's attachment to old boyfriends/girlfriends
# Getting all bent out shape over silly little habits that your spouse has
# Not sharing your emotions for fear of getting hurt or rejected
These are just a few of the bags that people tend to hold onto in their relationships. They want them there "just in case." They want to be able to say "I told you so" or they like to drag out those old dusty bags to use as ammunition in arguments.
But it is hard to really embrace each other when you are juggling two Samsonite suitcases, a laptop computer, a purse, umbrella and a duffel bag.
Come up with your own list of "baggage" that you might have in your relationship. Discuss the list with your significant other and then ceremoniously burn the list to indicate that you are no longer going to carry those heavy bags.
If you haven't experienced the freedom of traveling lightly, physically and in relationships, give it a try. You will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
Something to think about...

From: maryfatima@mailcity.com

The Game of Life*

Life is a game of basketball.
You start by sitting at the bench
To patiently await your turn;
You watch and pray and cheer and learn.

Sometimes you see the odds are wrong;
One team is taller than its foe,
Or faster or more fully trained,
But none the less the game is played.

Sometimes the referee is blind.
He fails to see anomalies
Committed right before his eyes,
Because the action is so fast.

At last the coach will let you play;
You join the team inside the court.
With all your might you play the game;
You pass, you dribble and you shoot.

And when you shoot sometimes you miss
But then you have to try again,
Or give your mate a good assist,
To score a sudden undergoal.

You have a choice inside the court
To play alone or with the team;
But soon you realize that you
Need them as much as they need you.

If you commit too many fouls
The referee will throw you out.
If you are reckless in the fray
They'll lift your injured body out.

The constant winner in the game
Of basketball is Father Time.
When His almighty whistle blows
All players stop, and fade away.

**************
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths
(Proverbs 3:6). As we journey through life sometimes the odds against us
are great, and yet the Lord wants us to continue trusting Him and allowing
Him to direct our lives. It's not a perfect world -- we hit some, and we
miss some -- but in the GAME OF LIFE God has given us each other so we can
assist one another in love. He has given us the gift of time to use as
best we can and play the game according to His rules. And when the final
score is written and our time to leave the court of life has come, in
victory He wants to bring us with Him. For "God has made everything
beautiful in His time." **

* By Cris P. Hofilena, CFC
** jgat

From: jgat@mozcom.com

On Letting Go

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring,
it means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off,
it's the realization I can't control another.

To "let go" is not to enable,
but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness,
which means the outcome is not in may hands.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another,
it's to make the most of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for,
but to care about.

To "let go" is not to fix,
but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge,
but to allow another to be a human being.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle
arranging all the outcomes,
but to allow others to effect their destinies.

To "let go" is not to be protective,
it's to permit another to face reality.

To "let go" is not to deny,
but to accept.

To "let go" is not to nag, scold, or argue,
but instead to search out my own
shortcomings and correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes,
and cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to criticize and regulate anybody,
but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To "let go" is not to regret the past,
but to grow and live for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less,
and love more.

~Anonymous~

From: http://www.dobhran.com/greetings/GRinspire356.htm

A Cup Of Rice Or A Bag Of Gold

(II Corinthians 8:9)

It was many centuries ago in a remote village in India. Word began to
spread that something was about to happen that no one had seen in there
lifetime the prince was coming to visit their forgotten little village.
Everyone was excited but no one was more excited than the village beggar.
Every day he eked out another day by sitting by the road with his little
cup, hoping to get enough money to buy the rice to live one more day. He
actually had two cups one for collecting money and one for his few grains
of rice. But now the prince was coming the wealthy prince! When the
prince finally arrived, the beggar mustered his most impassioned appeal -
Alms! Alms for the poor! And the prince stopped. The beggar's heart was
pounding furiously.

Give me your cup of rice. That was all the prince said. The beggar slumped
down in disbelief. Here was the wealthiest man in the land, asking for his
lousy little cup of rice. The beggar was about to refuse, but instead he
reached in and he put three grains of rice in the prince's hand. The
prince turned to his servant and said, Bring me the bag of gold. The
beggar could hardly contain himself as he eagerly stretched out his empty
collection cup. The prince reached into his bag and placed three grains
of gold in the beggar's cup. And then he disappeared, never to return but
leaving the beggar to wonder for the rest of his life . . . what would
have happened if I had given him my whole cup of rice?

Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, may be passing your way today with so much
to give you. The forgiveness of every sin you've ever committed . . . a
new beginning . . . the peace that has eluded you your whole lifetime . .
. eternity with Him in heaven. He wants to make you spiritually rich. In
fact, it was very expensive for Him to be able to offer you the heaven
you don't deserve instead of the death penalty your sin does deserve. In
our word for today from the Word of God, God describes the unspeakable
sacrifice Jesus made to rescue you. II Corinthians 8:9 says, You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (that's undeserved love), that though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His
poverty might become rich.

When God's Son, Prince of Heaven, is hanging on that blood-stained cross,
He is totally impoverishing Himself so you can have God's love, God's
resources, God's heaven. It's hard for us to see that we are the beggar
but the Bible says we're spiritually bankrupt because our running of our
own life, and that has cut us off from our Creator. Only Jesus can bring
us back. God says, When we were still powerless, Christ died for the
ungodly.

Your life is as big as you can make it and it's nowhere near enough, is
it?

Jesus is passing by you today, asking you to turn over to Him the life He
died for.

If you're ready to trade what you have for what Jesus has, tell Him you're
putting all your trust in Him today.

Don't make the eternal mistake of hanging onto your little cup of rice,
and missing Jesus' bag of gold.

From: precii@yahoo.com

The Art of Forgiveness

The Art of Forgiveness

A man awoke out of sound sleep one night, due to a recurring dream. The
dream was always the same. He was swimming in a lake, and although a good
swimmer, his arms and legs grew increasingly weary, and he feared he
might not make it back to shore. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, an
elderly man who looked identical to his deceased father passed by in a
rowboat. He stopped, held out his hand, but recalling how poorly his
father treated him as a child, he smiled dryly and said," No thank you,
Dad. I'll be ok."

The man continued to frantically splash his way back to shore. Looking to
the side, he saw yet another form in the distance. It was his daughter,
swimming quickly toward him with a life preserver. "Here, dad! Put this
on!" Remembering the many times his daughter disobeyed him as a rebellious
teen, the man shook his head and waved his daughter on.

Upon finally making it to shore, the man collapsed from exhaustion in the
wet sand. Conscious, yet unable to move, the man spied a large group of
people around him. All the people looked familiar - faces of the many
friends and relations he had come in contact with during his life. They
offered to take him to the hospital, to bring him some warm clothes, or
towel, but as each person spoke, the man recalled the many times that
person did him wrong. "No thank you," he said, "I will be fine." The man
stood up, brushed off his sandy, wet clothes, and walked wearily into the
sunset.

After the third night of dreaming this same dream, the man sought the
opinion of the only person he felt he could trust to not hurt him, his
wise, old grandmother.

"What does the dream mean, gram?" He asked. The wrinkled and wise-looking
woman sat in silence for several moments, and then finally spoke. "I'm
no dream-readin' expert, sonny, but I'd say that someone is trying to tell
you that you are holding in a lot of bitterness, due to an unforgiving
attitude."

The man pounded his fists on the table in indignation. "Bitter?
Unforgiving? That is absurd! I should have known better than come to an
uneducated woman like you!"

The old woman sat very still and calmly said, "There is more. I'm guessin'
that the struggle you encountered in the water is the same sort of
struggle that you often feel inside. You WANT to reach out and take hold
of a warm and caring hand, but no hand is good enough for you. You made it
to the shore THIS time, but what about next time?" Red-faced and
exasperated, the man stormed out of the room muttering to himself.

Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is something we do for
our SELF. Those who do not forgive others, who do not forgive easily, or
who forgive on a conditional basis, slowly build up bitterness inside
themselves.

Why?

Because when we hold in negative feelings, and do not work on finding
suitable resolutions, we carry all the hurts, anger, fear and
disappointments INSIDE our selves. Like the man in the story, we might
THINK we are "OK," even put on a good social front, but the reality of the
matter is, when we refuse to forgive and move on to a new day, the
negative baggage becomes so much a part of us, that it blurs our vision
and causes our perceptions of the world and those around us to be
distorted. An unforgiving attitude not only affects one emotionally, but
physically and spiritually.

As a new year (2001) is now upon us, let us use this time of resolutions
to think of what our own attitudes on forgiveness are. Will we carry old
grudges for yet another year? Or, will we allow forgiveness to be a
doorway through which all change can pass?

Perhaps the greatest example of the ultimate forgiveness was the Son of
God. Jesus Christ was guilty of no crime, nor wrong doing, yet he hung
nailed to a cross, for your sins and mine. How easily he could have cursed
those who persecuted him, even damned them to Hell, if he desired, yet,
putting all pride aside, he uttered these words,"Father, forgive them..."

In the Bible, we are told many times over that if we do not forgive
others, God will not forgive us. It is easy to say we forgive, but
forgiveness is an ACTION, not just a word. If we truly forgive, then old
grudges, bitterness, and resentments are washed away.

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your
Father will not forgive yours sins." -Matthew 6:14

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."-Luke 6:36

You may be pleased to know that after some time of solitude, the man in
the story went home to his wife, sat her down, and as he held her hands,
he promised her that from this day forth, each day would be a new day, and
the sun would not again go down on unresolved issues. This same sentiment
was carried over each time he saw a friend or relation.

By crying out to God to forgive this man of the wrongs he did in his own
life, he was then able to fully understand the beauty and purpose of his
forgiving others. If Christ forgives us, then we must also forgive
others.

From: precii@yahoo.com

Learning to Love our Self

‘Codependence is an emotional and behavioral defense system which was
adopted by our egos in order to meet our need to survive as a child.
Because we had no tools for reprogramming our egos and healing our
emotional wounds (culturally approved grieving, training and initiation
rites, healthy role models, etc.), the effect is that as an adult we keep
reacting to the programming of our childhood and do not get our needs met
- our emotional, mental, Spiritual, or physical needs. Codependence
allows us to survive physically but causes us to feel empty and dead
inside. Codependence is a defense system that causes us to wound
ourselves.’

‘We need to take the shame and judgment out of the process on a personal
level. It is vitally important to stop listening and giving power to
that critical place within us that tells us that we are bad and wrong and
shameful. That ‘critical parent’ voice in our head is the disease lying to
us. . . . This healing is a long gradual process - the goal is progress,
not perfection. What we are learning about is unconditional Love.
Unconditional Love means no judgment, no shame.’

‘We need to start observing ourselves and stop judging ourselves. Any
time we judge and shame ourselves, we are feeding back into the disease,
we are jumping back into the squirrel cage.’

Codependence is a dysfunctional defense system that was built in reaction
to feeling unlovable and unworthy - because our parents were wounded
codependents who didn’t know how to love themselves. We grew up in
environments that were emotionally dishonest, Spiritually hostile, and
shame based. Our relationship with ourselves (and all the different
parts of our self: emotions, gender, spirit, etc.) got twisted and
distorted in order to survive in our particular dysfunctional
environment. We got to an age where we were supposed to be an adult and
we started acting like we knew what we were doing. We went around
pretending to be adult at the same time we were reacting to the
programming that we got growing up. We tried to do everything ‘right’ or
rebelled and went against what we had been taught was ‘right.’ Either
way we weren’t living our life through choice, we were living it in
reaction.

In order to start being loving to ourselves we need to change our
relationship with our self - and with all the wounded parts of our self.

The way which I have found works the best in starting to love ourselves
is through having internal boundaries. Learning to have internal
boundaries is a dynamic process that involves three distinctly different,
but intimately interconnected, spheres of work. The purpose of the work
is to change our ego-programming - to change our relationship with
ourselves by changing our emotional/behavioral defense system into
something that works to open us up to receive love, instead of sabotaging
ourselves because of our deep belief that we don’t deserve love.

(I need to make the point here that Codependence and recovery are both
multi-leveled, multi-dimensional phenomena. What we are trying to achieve
is integration and balance on different levels. In regard to our
relationship with ourselves this involves two major dimensions: the
horizontal and the vertical. In this context the horizontal is about
being human and relating to other humans and our environment. The
vertical is Spiritual, about our relationship to a Higher Power, to the
Universal Source. If we cannot conceive of a God/Goddess Force that loves
us then it makes it virtually impossible to be loving to ourselves. So a
Spiritual Awakening is absolutely vital to the process in my opinion.
Changing our relationship with ourselves on the horizontal level is both
a necessary element in, and possible because we are working on,
integrating Spiritual Truth into our inner process.)

These three spheres are:
1. Detachment
2. Inner Child Healing
3. Grieving

Because Codependence is a reactive phenomena it is vital to start being
able to detach from our own process in order to have some choice in
changing our reactions. We need to start observing our selves from the
witness perspective instead of from the perspective of the judge. We all
observe ourselves - have a place of watching ourselves as if from
outside, or perched somewhere inside, observing our own behavior.
Because of our childhoods we learned to judge ourselves from that witness
perspective, the ‘critical parent’ voice.

The emotionally dishonest environments we were raised in taught us that
it was not ok to feel our emotions, or that only certain emotions were
ok. So we had to learn ways to control our emotions in order to survive.
We adapted the same tools that were used on us - guilt, shame, and fear
(and saw in the role modeling of our parents how they reacted to life
from shame and fear.) This is where the critical parent gets born. It’s
purpose is to try to keep our emotions and behavior under some sort of
control so that we can get our survival needs met.

So the first boundary that we need to start setting internally is with
the wounded/dysfunctionally programmed part of our own mind. We need to
start saying no to the inner voices that are shaming and judgmental.

The disease comes from a black and white, right and wrong, perspective.
It speaks in absolutes: ‘You always screw up!’ ‘You will never be a
success!’ - these are lies. We don’t always screw up. We may never be a
success according to our parents or societies dysfunctional definition of
success - but that is because our heart and soul do not resonate with
those definitions, so that kind of success would be a betrayal of
ourselves. We need to consciously change our definitions so that we can
stop judging ourselves against someone else’s screwed up value system. We
learned to relate to ourselves (and all the parts of our self - emotions,
sexuality, etc.) and life from a critical place of believing that
something was wrong with us - and in fear that we would be punished if we
didn’t do life ‘right.’ Whatever we are doing or not doing the disease
can always find something to beat us up with. I have 10 things on my ‘to
do list’ today, I get 9 of them done, the disease does not want me to
give myself credit for what I have done but instead beats me up for the
one I didn’t get done. Whenever life gets too good we get uncomfortable
and the disease jumps right in with fear and shame messages. The
critical parent voice keeps us from relaxing and enjoying life, and from
loving our self.

We need to own that we have the power to choose where to focus our mind.

We can consciously start viewing ourselves from the witness perspective.
It is time to fire the judge - our critical parent and choose to replace
that judge with our Higher Self - who is a loving parent. We can then
intervene in our own process to protect ourselves from the perpetrator
within - the critical parent/disease voice. (It is almost impossible to
go from critical parent to compassionate loving parent in one step - so
the first step often is to try to observe ourselves from a neutral
position or a ‘scientific observer’ perspective.)

This is what enlightenment and consciousness raising are all about.
Owning our power to be a co-creator of our lives by changing our
relationship with ourselves. We can change the way we think. We can
change the way we respond to our own emotions. We need to detach from our
wounded self in order to allow our Spiritual Self to guide us. We are
Unconditionally Loved. The Spirit does not speak to us from judgment and
shame.

One of the visualizations that has helped me over the years is an image
of a small control room in my brain. This control room is full of dials
and gauges and lights and sirens. In this control room are a bunch of
Keebler-like elves whose job it is to make sure that I don’t get too
emotional for my own good. Whenever I feel anything too strongly
(including Joy, happiness, self-love) the lights start flashing and the
sirens start wailing and the elves go crazy running around trying to get
things under control. They start pushing some of the old survival
buttons: feeling too happy - drink; feeling too sad- eat sugar; feeling
scared - get laid; or whatever.

To me, the process of recovery is about teaching those elves to chill
out. Reprogramming my ego-defenses to knowing that it is ok to feel the
feelings. That feeling and releasing the emotions is not only ok it is
what will work best in allowing me to have my needs fulfilled. We need
to change our relationship with ourselves and our own emotions in order
to stop being at war with ourselves. The first step to doing that is to
detach from ourselves enough to start protecting ourselves from the
perpetrator that lives within us.

From: cuarescb@yahoo.com

Blessings on Finances

Heavenly Father, Most Gracious and Loving God, I pray to you that you
abundantly bless my family and me.
I know that you recognize, that a family is more than just a mother and
father, sister and brother, husband and wife, but all who believe and
trust in you.
Father, I send up a prayer request for financial blessing for not only the
person who sent this to me, but for me and all that I have forwarded this
message on to. And that the power of joined prayer by those who believe
and trust in you, is more powerful than anything.
I thank you in advance for your blessings.
Father GOD, deliver the person reading this right now from debt and debt
burdens. Release your Godly Wisdom that I may be a good steward over all
that YOU have called me to be in my financial Blessings.
Father, for I know how wonderful and mighty you are and how if we just
obey you and walk in your word and have the faith of a mustard seed that
you will pour out blessings. I thank you now Lord for the recent blessings
I received and for the blessings yet to come because I know you are not
done with me yet.
In Jesus Name, I pray, Amen.

From: rvcruz@csb.com.ph

A Bullet for Christ

One Sunday morning during church service, a 2,000 member
congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from
head to toe in black and carrying submachine guns.

One of the men shouted, "Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ
remain where you are"!

Immediately, the choir fled, the deacons fled, and most of the
congregation fled. Out of the 2,000, there only remained around 20.

The man who had spoken took off his hood, looked at the preacher and
said "Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites. Now you may
begin your service. Have a nice day!" And the two men turned and
walked out.

From: ajbeuchel@yahoo.com

He Said No

A girl asked a guy if he thought she was pretty, he said...no.
She asked him if he would want to be with her forever....and he said no.
She then asked him if she were to leave would he cry, and once again he
replied with a no.

She had heard enough.

As she walked away, tears streaming down her face the boy grabbed her arm
and said....

You're not pretty you're beautiful.

I dont want to be with you forever. I NEED to be with you forever.

And I wouldnt cry if you walked away...I'd die...


Isn't that sweet? I like you because of who you are to me. You are a true
friend.

From: larrainecriss@email.com

Why Go to the Church?

A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained
that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone and done it
for 30 long years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something
like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one
of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the preachers are wasting
theirs too by giving lengthy sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column,
much to the delight the editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some
32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for
a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me
and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given
me these meals, I would be Physically de ad today. Likewise, if I had not
gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When
you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the
invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible! Thank God
for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!

GOD BLESS.


From: larrainecriss@email.com

Woman to Woman Encouragement

Someone will always be prettier. They will always be smarter. Their
house will be bigger. They will drive a better car. Their children
will do better in school. And their husband will fix more things
around the house.

So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.
Think about it. The prettiest woman in the world can have sorrow in her
heart. And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to
have children. And the richest woman you know -- she's got the car,
the house, the clothes --might be lonely. And the Word says if I have
not Love, I am nothing. So, again, love you. Love who you are right
now and let God be your barometer. Mirror Him. Look in the mirror in
the morning and see how much of God you see. He' s the only standard
and even when you come up short; He will not leave you or forsake you.
Smile and may God continue to bless you.

"I am too blessed to be stressed or depressed, and too anointed to be
disappointed!"

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance
between your knees and the floor.

"The one who kneels to God can stand up to anything."

"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen."

Be Blessed ladies and pass this on to encourage another woman.

"To the world, you might be only one person, but to one person, you just
might be the world."

"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change,
the courage to change the 'ONE' I can change,
and the wisdom to know that it's ME"

Have a great day and remember...

"Kindness is contagious...pass it on."

From: JeanAustria@astec-power.com

"Do You Think God Has Any Problem...?"

MOSES and the children of Israel were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.

Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each at least a mile long, would be required?

Besides, they were out in the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use to cook the food. This would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.

And, oh yes! They would have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!

Another thing, they had to cross the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to go through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea at least 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to cross over in one night.

But then, there is another problem ... each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the State of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long. Think of it! This much space for camping.

Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him.

Now, do you think God has any problem taking care of your problems?

-----------------------------------------------------------
Lord, remind me as I walk upon this sod,
That everything I have comes from God;
If the storms of life rages and tempests are wild,
You will still solve my problem, for I am your child. **
-----------------------------------------------------------

Forwarded by Teresa Coloma
** jgat

From: jgat@mozcom.com

_______________________________________
EDSAMAIL. Internet the way YOU WANT IT.
www.edsamail.com.ph

Finding And Telling *

* By Richard W. De Haan, Our Daily Bread
** Sper



Many years ago some prospectors were panning for gold in Montana when one of them found an unusual stone. Breaking it open, he saw that it contained gold. Working eagerly, the men soon discovered an abundance of the precious metal. With an unrestrained delight they shouted, "We've found it! We've found gold! We're rich!"

Before going into town for supplies, they agreed not to tell a soul about their find. While in town, not one of them breathed a word about their discovery. When they were about to return to camp, though, a group of men had gathered and were ready to follow them. "You've found gold," the group said. "Who told you?" asked the prospectors. "No one," they replied. "Your faces showed it!"

It's much like that when a person discovers Christ. The joy of sins forgiven and a new relationship with Him shows on that person's face and in His transformed life.

Those miners, of course, wanted to keep quiet about their find, but we as Christians should be eager to let people know about ours. Finding Christ is life's greatest discovery, and our joy increases when we share it with others. As believers, our highest delight is both in finding and telling.

---------------------------------
Let us serve the Lord
with gladness
And enthusiastic praise,
Telling all who
do not know Him
Of His great and wondrous
ways. **
---------------------------------

From: jgat@mozcom.com

_______________________________________
EDSAMAIL. Internet the way YOU WANT IT.
www.edsamail.com.ph

What My Father Wore

By Bret Anthony Johnston


What my father wore embarrassed me as a young man. I wanted him to dress like a doctor or lawyer, but on those muggy mornings when he rose before dawn to fry eggs for my mother and me, he always dressed like my father.

We lived in south Texas, and my father wore tattered jeans with the imprint of his pocketknife on the seat. He liked shirts that snapped more than those that buttoned and kept his pencils, cigars, glasses, wrenches and screwdrivers in his breast pocket. My father's boots were government-issues with steel toes that made them difficult to pull off his feet, which I sometimes did when he returned from repairing air conditioners, his job that also shamed me.

But, as a child, I'd crept into his closet and modeled his wardrobe in front of the mirror. My imagination transformed his shirts into the robes of kings and his belts into soldiers' holsters. I slept in his undershirts and relied on the scent of his collars to calm my fear of the dark. Within a few years, though, I started wishing my father would trade his denim for khaki and retire his boots for loafers. I stopped sleeping in his clothes and eventually began dreaming of another father.

I blamed the way he dressed for my social failures. When boys bullied me, I thought they'd seen my father wearing his cowboy hat but no shirt while walking our dog. I felt that girls snickered at me because they'd glimpsed him mowing the grass in cut-offs and black boots. The girls' families paid men (and I believed better-dressed ones) to landscape their lawns, while their fathers yachted in the bay wearing lemon-yellow sweaters and expensive sandals.

My father only bought two suits in his life. He preferred clothes that allowed him the freedom to shimmy under cars and squeeze behind broken May tags, where he felt most content. But the day before my parents' twentieth anniversary, he and I went to Sears, and he tried on suits all afternoon. With each one, he stepped to the mirror, smiled and nodded, then asked about the price and reached for another. He probably tried ten suits before we drove to a discount store and bought one without so much as approaching a fitting room.

That night my mother said she'd never seen a more handsome man. Later, though, he donned the same suit for my eighth-grade awards banquet, and I wished he'd stayed home. After the ceremony (I'd been voted Mr. Citizenship, of all things), he lauded my award and my character while changing into a faded red sweatsuit. He was stepping into the garage to wash a load of laundry when I asked what even at age fourteen struck me as cruel and wrong. "Why," I asked, "don't you dress 'nice,' like my friends' fathers?"

He held me with his sad, shocked eyes, and searched for an answer. Then before he disappeared into the garage and closed the door between us, my father said, "I like my clothes." An hour later my mother stormed into my room, slapped me hard across the face and called me an "ungrateful little twerp," a phrase that echoed in my head until they resumed speaking to me. In time they forgave me, and as I matured I realized that girls avoided me not because of my father but because of his son. I realized that my mother had slapped me because my father could not, and it soon became clear that what he had really said that night was that there are things more important than clothes. He'd said he couldn't spend a nickel on himself because there were things I wanted. That night, without another word, my father had said, "You're my son, and I sacrifice so your life will be better than mine."

For my high-school graduation, my father arrived in a suit he and my mother had purchased earlier that day. Somehow he seemed taller, more handsome and imposing, and when he passed the other fathers they stepped out of his way.

It wasn't the suit, of course, but the man. The doctors and lawyers recognized the confidence in his swagger, the pride in his eyes, and when they approached him, they did so with courtesy and respect. After we returned home, my father replaced the suit in the flimsy Sears garment bag, and I didn't see it again until his funeral.

I don't know what he was wearing when he died, but he was working, so he was in clothes he liked, and that comforts me. My mother thought of burying him in the suit from Sears, but I convinced her otherwise and soon delivered a pair of old jeans, a flannel shirt and his boots to the funeral home.

On the morning of the services, I used his pocketknife to carve another hole in his belt so it wouldn't droop around my waist. Then I took the suit from Sears out of his closet and changed into it. Eventually, I mustered the courage to study myself in his mirror where, with the exception of the suit, I appeared small and insignificant.

Again, as in childhood, the clothes draped over my scrawny frame. My father's scent wafted up and caressed my face, but it failed to console me. I was uncertain: not about my father's stature - I'd stopped being an ungrateful little twerp years before. No, I was uncertain about myself, my own stature. And I stood there for some time, facing myself in my father's mirror, weeping and trying to imagine - as I will for the rest of my life - the day I'll grow into my father's clothes.


Sent by Imelda Arche

From: jgat@mozcom.com

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"So What Will Matter?"

A Life That Matters (orig. title)
Sent by Leandro G. Cruz


Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built.

What will matter is not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

From: jgat@mozcom.com

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What Is True Love?

Author Unknown, A Story of Love (orig. subj.)
* jgat


It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80's, presented to have sutures (stitches) removed from his thumb.

He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.

I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and I asked him, "And you are still going every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said... "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.


* DEAR LORD, You are Love and from You alone can we really learn what true love is. And so help us learn how to love each other completely and unconditionally. As husband and wife we have our own shares of imperfection. And yet, Lord, You love us just as we are with all our flaws and weaknesses. Teach us, therefore, to love and accept each other without reservation. Inspire each one of us to go out of our way to make the other feel needed, appreciated and special. In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, let us give each other the security of feeling truly loved. Beyond all, for Your faithfulness, make us hold hands and voice a psalm of gratitude and praise. Lord, we thank You that we can always feel and see Your love and glory everywhere!


Sent by Elma M. Corbeta

From: jgat@mozcom.com

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Lifetime Partner

"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 9:26)

When I hear of people divorcing because of "irreconcilable differences," I think of the above verse. When a marriage looks doomed from man's perspective, that's when man needs to turn to God. If the almighty God can part the Red Sea, if He can reconcile you to Him by the sacrifice of His Son, why is it impossible for Him to heal a broken marriage? You may be facing "irreconcilable differences" in your marriage, or perhaps in a relationship with another person at work, at church or in your neighborhood. If so, take heart from the following note given to one of our Family Life Marriage Conference speakers.

Last year in March my wife, Susan, informed me she didn't love me and wanted a divorce. I wanted to work to save our marriage, but she didn't. My sister gave us a registration form to attend a Family Life Marriage Conference in 1992. Susan filed for divorce, so I attended the conference alone. I became aware through the conference of the reasons my marriage was failing. God was not a part of our marriage. After the conference I became involved in and eventually joined a church. I prayed for God's will in my life but especially for God to put my family and marriage back together.

However, the divorce was final soon afterward. Miraculously, my new church started a single parents' support group and care group in July. I joined immediately. God supplied the support I needed to become a single parent.

Afterward, Susan and I began to discuss the mistakes we had made in our lives and our marriage. We began to discuss reconciliation. Susan and I are here at the conference together, committed to rebuilding our relationship with God as part of our family. I praise God for answering my prayer even if it's in His own way and His own time. It's never too late for God.

I love that last line. Nothing is impossible for God.

What situations are you facing that seem impossible to you? Ask God to help you believe that nothing is impossible with Him. Commit to praying with your mate that God would move as only He can.


By Dennis & Barbara Rainey,
"Moments Together for Couples"

From: jgat@mozcom.com

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Life as a Terminal Illness

A valedictory address by Anna Quindlen


It's a great honor for me to be the third member of my family to receive an honorary doctorate from this great university. It's an honor to follow my great Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician, and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman. Both of them could have told you something important about their professions, about medicine or commerce. I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a disadvantage talking to you today.

I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know.

Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only
Part of the first. Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul
Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for re-election because he had been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."

Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."

Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no
One else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same
degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a
living.

But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account but your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort
on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've
gotten back the test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried
Never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no
Longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch.

I would be rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true. You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.

So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger
house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone.
Send an e-mail. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous.

And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business
taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to
spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it
to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my druthers, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today , seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive

These are the moments I'll remember all my life

I found all I've waited for and I could not ask for more


From: yong2k@yahoo.com


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When Criticism Is Better Than Praise

Try to see negative feedback as free coaching, not a personal attack.
Oct 13 2004
By Anne Fisher
Fortune.com

"I've worked with many interns over the years, and have witnessed them become literally crushed by constructive criticism," writes graphic designer Kathleen Wise, in response to my request in last week's column for tales from readers of how negative feedback has actually helped their careers. "I try to tell them that someday they will actually welcome it. One thing I say that stops them in their tracks: The criticism is always sincere. The praise is not." Too true! Early in my own career, I had one editor who told me that everything I did was flawless and fantastic, great for the ego, but I was more than a little deflated to realize, later on, that he heaped phony praise on everybody, so what good was it? The editors who tore my stuff to shreds, on the other hand, did me the bigger favor by taking the time to show me where I was going astray.

Many thanks to all who wrote to share their experiences with constructive criticism. A sampling of comments:

Sheila C. : "Recently a co-worker let me know that I speak to people in a condescending manner. It was difficult for me to take at first, but I realized she was honestly trying to help me. Afterward, I started listening to myself (something I hadn't been doing) and I realized she was right. It's helped me relate better to my boss and to other co-workers. It's also helped my relationship with my adult daughter. It's amazing how much we talk, and how little we listen to ourselves."

Akshay K.: "Many moons ago I was a brand manager, and a senior executive who was not even my direct boss told me that I needed to get better at dealing with my advertising agency more effectively giving them more 'TLC' and keeping many balls in the air at the same time. I did improve in both these areas and that has definitely helped my career."

Faith A.: "A number of years ago, I had a manager who gave me a rather hefty performance review, with a lot of examples of my behavior to back up her concerns. I had just been promoted to a fairly high technical level, so she was trying to wake me up to the fact that the new position carried with it some significantly higher expectations in the area of working with other people.... At first glance, I was stunned, but I took that review to heart.... That was in 1997 and I still pull that review out from time to time and read through it, to see if I'm doing okay against it. I believe that had that manager not done that for me, and had I not taken it as the help it was meant to be, I wouldn't be in the management position I'm in today."

These stories bring to mind something Pete Winemiller, head of customer relations for the Seattle Sonics, said to me in an interview a couple of months back. We were talking about customer complaints and how his organization responds to them, and he said: "I love customer complaints! They tell us what we need to improve! They're like free consulting!" Constructive criticism at work is like free career coaching. It can teach you what an executive coach would charge you hundreds or thousands of dollars to learn about yourself. So why not take advantage of it?

But what if, as many of you have noted in your e-mails, some bosses aren't adept at articulating exactly what needs fixing? Ah, well, that's where it may help to do a little skillful managing upward. "My boss goes on and on about what he doesn't like about something I've done, in a whiny tone, rather than saying what he'd like me to do about it," writes a reader named Penny. Her response: "I say, 'How about if I do X, or change this project by taking these other steps?' That seems to work, because it lets him know I've heard him, and gives me something concrete to work on." Well done!

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com.

From: "Ask Annie"

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The Freedom of Simplicity

By Bo Sanchez
Happiness is not found outside of you. It doesn't come from cars, clothes, cash, or Caribbean cruises. Happiness is found within. But how can you find it if you don't have the simplicity of time and space to discover the most important things in your life? How can you search the depths of your soul if you are too busy impressing others, acquiring wealth, protecting your properties, and paying your debts?
Simplicity is not about the external either: living in a doghouse, eating in a Hepatitis joint, wearing rags.
Let me define what it is: Simplicity is living from the core of your being.

A TREASURE MAP OF HAPPINESS
Simplicity will point to you where and what and who the gold is in your life.
Let me share with you the seven powerful lessons I've learned on simple living:

1. LIVE ON LESS, AND DELIGHT IN THEM MORE
Some take their pleasure dining in classy restaurants, trips to Europe, and owning the latest home theatre-equipment. I've chosen the simple path: If I can simply be with my wife, or take a quiet stroll under a canopy of stars, or play with a child, or read a good book in my home, or laugh with friends over a pizza, I consider myself richly blessed.
Focus on what you have and not on what you don't have.

2. STOP RUNNING AND WALK INSTEAD
Here's the truth: The person who has covered the greatest distance does NOT win, but the one who has most enjoyed the journey does. Stop running around chasing your own tail! Get off your hurried pace and learn to breathe.
Replace doing with being. Learn to say no to invitations, appointments, and commitments, activities and events that will rob you of your focus. Learn to say "yes "to rest, to tranquility, to quietness.

3. YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR WEALTH
I own very few things today. Because I am more than the brand of my watch, the logo of my shoes, the name of my car. I believe that if in my soul I deeply respect and value myself, people around me will sense that, and they too, will value and respect me-whether I'm wearing Armani or not.
You are more than your wealth.

4. AVOID BUYING ON CREDIT
I don't believe in borrowing from credit cards. (For convenience, I use one card but I pay the whole amount at the end of each month.) If I need something really bad, I save up for it. Sometimes, at midpoint, I realize I don't really need the darn thing and give up the whole idea. The only exception I feel we should enter into a credit is when buying a non-depreciating item, such as housing or land.
I believe we should always live within our earning capacity.
Proverbs 22:7 says, "Those who borrow are slaves of moneylenders."

5. GIVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
If I content myself with P250 shirt instead of P4,000 Lacoste, I can help others more. Trust me, there is immense pleasure! You will find that the empty thrill of owning a diamond ring on your finger pales in comparison to the joy of handling a piece of bread to an orphan child.
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
(2 Corinthians 9:8)

6. SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
Saving is essential to being good stewards of the money that God "lends" to us. Saving is an important way of providing for our future-both for our needs and to be generous to others. I recommend that you save at least 10% of your income. I can almost hear you now:
"Bo, that's impossible!" Oh yeah? Well, how did you live three years back when your salary was one-half its present amount?
Sacrifice. Many of our needs are actually wants. Is cable TV a need? Will you suddenly die if you can't watch CNN or HBO? Are those new golf clubs essential to your existence?
Invest in time deposits, long-term stocks and housing.

7. BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET
Make a list of all your monthly expenses, according to categories. Make also a list of irregular expenses-those that don't come monthly. Set up another savings account for these expenses and put in a little money each month. To differentiate this from the savings account, we call ours freedom account" because it frees us from worrying about them when they suddenly attack.
And stick to your budget!

ONE LAST WORD BEFORE WE CLOSE
Balance. Don't take living simply to the extremes! Living simply doesn't mean living in deprivation.
There are special days when my wife and I eat in a fancy restaurant. Or when we splurge into a vacation. Very rare, yes, but my point is that you take living simply NOT as a rigid goal-but as a happy process towards the goals of generosity, inner peace and holiness.

From: mcjpabico@amaes.edu.ph


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How to Take Criticism Without Getting Defensive

 

It's a key career skill, yet most of us have little experience at putting negative feedback to work for us. Plus, a reader survey: If you own a small business, will you leave it to your kids? Why or why not?

 

Oct 05 2004

By Anne Fisher

Fortune.com

 

Dear Annie:

 

In a couple of your recent columns, you've mentioned the importance of accepting constructive criticism (from mentors and bosses, or even peers) without flipping out about it, getting defensive or argumentative, for instance. My problem is, all my life I've had a hard time taking criticism from anyone, and I have a sense that this is starting to damage my career. It doesn't help that my current boss always has something negative to say to everyone, so we never know how much weight to give his opinions. Do you have any tips on how to get better at putting criticism to good use?

 

Hackles Up

 

Dear H.U.:

          I'm glad you asked, because I think you've got plenty of company. According to Jan B. King (http://www.janbking.com), a former publishing-company CEO turned executive coach and author: "Accountability is more a buzzword than a reality at most companies. The long-term trend in society of trying to protect people's self-esteem" yes, she is from California, based in L.A. "added to concern over costly lawsuits, has cut down on constructive criticism in the workplace over the past 30 years. So the average employee has no experience with it, and no idea how to put it to productive use." She has devised a six-step plan for getting the most benefit from negative feedback. See if these tips work for you.

 

1) First, work on changing your reaction to receiving feedback. "Listen to the messages you get from people close to you—your spouse, children, close friends, or other family members," King suggests. "Write them down and consider them food for thought." If certain messages seem to pop up repeatedly, try to analyze them objectively and come up with ideas on what you might do to change those perceptions.

2) When getting feedback from a boss or colleague, "listen without commenting, looking directly at the person," King says. "When they have finished, ask questions if you need clarification. Don't agree, don't deny, and don't rationalize." What if your boss is yelling at you? "We're rarely taught how to give feedback well, so you might get criticism from someone who's angry about something in the moment," she notes. "If it gets to the point of being abusive, ask to stop the discussion and have it again at another time when emotions have had a chance to cool off."

3) Recognize that, for many people, it takes courage to give honest feedback. Most people don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news, so someone who is willing to be frank with you about your shortcomings most likely intends his or her comments as "a gift, intended to help you grow," says King. "Thank the giver for the feedback. Make it short, but something you can say sincerely, such as, 'You've really given me something to think about, thanks.' "

4) Immediately write down all you can recall of the feedback. Then give yourself a couple of days to process the information. Watch what you do and say and how others respond to it. Was there a kernel of truth in the criticism? How can you change your behavior to respond to it?

5) When you know you're facing tough feedback—an evaluation that may address a recent mistake, for instance—plan something nice for yourself afterward, like dinner with friends, or a date to do something you're especially good at. "Although criticism is simply someone else's perception, it can shake up your feelings about yourself," King says—and that can make it harder to focus on what you need to change.

6) If you feel the need to vent to friends about the feedback, go ahead, but ask them not to react to the substance of it (since they may not be the most objective). Says King: "It would be normal to want to invalidate criticism, and get others to back you up, but you could lose what may be a critical grain of truth if you do."

 

          The most essential thing to remember about all criticism is that "it is one opinion coming from another individual's unique perspective," King says. "It's up to you to do something positive with it. It's impossible for us to see ourselves as others see us, but very important not to allow those blind spots to jeopardize wonderful opportunities." Readers, what say you? Has constructive criticism—however unwelcome at the time—ever given your career a needed boost? Tell me about it!

Send questions to askannie@fortunemail.com.

 

From:   Ask Annie <annieadm@TIMEINC.NET>

 

A Bag of Cookies

 

A woman was waiting

At an airport one night

With several long hours

Before her flight.

 

She hunted for a book

In the airport shop,

Bought a bag of cookies

And found a place to drop.

 

She was engrossed in her book

But happened to see,

That the man sitting beside her,

As bold as could be,

 

Grabbed a cookie or two

From the bag in between,

Which she tried to ignore

To avoid a scene.

 

So she munched the cookies

And watched the clock,

As the gutsy cookie thief

Diminished her stock.

 

She was getting more irritated

As the minutes ticked by,

Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice,

I would blacken his eye."

 

With each cookie she took,

He took one too,

When only one was left,

She wondered what he would do.

 

With a smile on his face,

And a nervous laugh,

He took the last cookie

And broke it in half.

 

He offered her half,

As he ate the other,

She snatched it from him

And thought... ooh, brother!

 

This guy has some nerve

And he's also rude,

Why he didn't even show

Any gratitude!

 

She had never known

When she had been so galled,

And sighed with relief

When her flight was called.

 

She gathered her belongings

And headed to the gate,

Refusing to look back

At the thieving ingrate.

 

She boarded the plane,

And sank in her seat,

Then she sought her book,

Which was almost complete.

 

As she reached in her baggage,

She gasped with surprise,

There was her bag of cookies,

In front of her eyes.

 

If mine are here,

She moaned in despair,

The others were his,

And he tried to share.

 

Too late to apologize,

She realized with grief,

That she was the rude one,

The ingrate, the thief!

 

How many times have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true... was not?

 

"Always, Keep An Open Mind And An Open Heart, Because You Just Never Know..."

 

From:   JeanAustria@astec-power.com

 

What goes around comes around

 

            He almost didn't see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

          Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so ... was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill only fear can put in you.

          He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan." Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

          As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

          He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "And think of me."

          He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

          A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home.

          It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an out-of-work actor -- it didn't ring much.

          The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude.

          The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

          After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get change for her $100 bill, the lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back.

          The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin under which were four $100 bills.

          There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: "You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you."

          Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard.

          She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered, "Everything's gonna be all right. I love you, Bryan."

         

          There is an old saying "What goes around comes around." Today, I sent you this story, and I'm asking you to pass it on ....

          Let this light shine.

 

From:   wintuazon@yahoo.com

         

The Echo

(Author Unknown)

          A man and his son were walking in the forest. Suddenly the boy trips and feeling a sharp pain he screams, "Ahhhhhh." Surprised he hears a voice coming from the mountain, "Ahhhhhhh!"

          Filled with curiosity, he screams: "who are you?", but the only answer is: "who are you?". This makes him angry, so he screams: "you are a coward!", and the voice answers: "you are a coward!"

          He looks at his father, asking, "Dad, what is going on?" "Son," the man replies, "Pay attention!" Then he screams, "I admire you!" The voice answers, "I admire you!" "You are wonderful!", and the voice answers: "You are wonderful!"

          The boy is surprised, but he still can't understand what is going on. Then the father explains, "People call this "ECHO," but truly it is "LIFE." Life always gives you back what you give out! Life is a mirror of our actions. If you want more love, give more love! If you want kindness, give more kindness! If you want understanding and respect, give understanding and respect! If you want people to be patient and respectful to you, give patience and respect! This rule of nature applies to every aspect of our lives.

          Life always gives you back what you give out. This is a principle God has established in this world in which we live. As a man sows, so shall he reap.

          What are you sowing?

From:   wintuazon@yahoo.com