Experience has repeatedly confirmed that well-known maxim of Bacon’s that “a little philosophy inclineth a man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” At the same time, when Bacon penned that sage epigram… he forgot to add that the God to whom depth in philosophy brings back men’s minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them.
George Santayana
I am o longer an innocent,
Strong spirited
Girl,
As I was.
Now I’m kept, protected from all.
I am a broken spirited hollow lady,
Suffering in silence.
There is now smoke in my gaze,
Instead of fire in my stare.
I speak not with those who I associate with.
I reach out to none.
I stay only with those who I am known too.
I take chances no more.
My stare has grown frozen as winter’s nights.
They say we cant be friends
but they dont know
a friendship like ours will never end.
they say its over
but they dont know
i will find that four leafe clover.
they say i will never see your beauty again
but they dont know
all i have to do is close my eyes and pretend.
What Adults Eventually Learn About the Great Things in Life
Raising teenagers is like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree.
There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example, I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt.
Reason to smile: Every seven minutes of every day, someone in an aerobics class pulls a hamstring.
The best way to keep kids at home is to make the home a pleasant atmosphere…and let the air out of their tires.
Families are like fudge…mostly sweet with a few nuts.
Middle age is when you choose cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
If you can remain calm, you don’t have all the facts.
Eat a live toad first thing in the morning, and nothing worse can happen to you the rest of the day.
You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoes and wonder what else you can do while you’re down there.
I never meant to hurt you,
I never meant to lie,
If only you gave me a clue,
If only you didn’t say goodbye.
I tried to fix it, I really did,
I tried to tell the truth,
Can’t blame me,I’m just a kid,
Can’t blame me,at such a youth.
I really hoped, I hoped even more,
I almost had it,I almost had it,
You once were my friend, before,
You were my pal, before the hatred hit.
Our friendship ended,
Our bond broke,
“I hate you”, you chanted,
I, never spoke.
I never meant to hurt you,
I never meant to lie,
If only you gave me a clue,
If only you didn’t say goodbye.
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. Keep this In mind if you are one of those grouches.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s!
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and Lots of time with HIM/HER.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with you your entire life, is yourself. LIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. I f it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to
a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. And if you don’t send this to at least 4 people – who cares? But do share it with someone. =o)
God bless.
Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long.
I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn’t what’s on your head but what’s in it that counts; but on that day, I was unprepared and my emotions flipped I immediately filed Tommy under “S” for strange… very strange.
Tommy turned out to be the “atheist in residence” in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God.
We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in t he back pew. When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a cynical tone, “Do you think I’ll ever find God?”
I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. “No!” I said very emphatically. “Why not?,” he responded, “I thought that was the product you were
pushing.”
I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, “Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain
that He will find you!”
He shrugged a little and left my class and my life. I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line:
“He will find you!” At least I thought it was clever.
Later, I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful.
Then a sad report came.
I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer.
Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy.
But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
“Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often–I hear you are sick”, I blurted out.
“Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It’s a matter of weeks.”
“Can you talk about it, Tom?”, I asked.
“Sure, what would you like to know?”, he replied.
“What’s it like to be only twenty-four and dying?”, I asked.
“Well, it could be worse.”, he replied.
“Like what?”, I asked.
“Well, like be ing fifty and having no values or ideals; like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies’ in life.”, he replied.
I began to look through my mental file cabinet under ‘S’ where I had filed Tommy as strange.
(It seems as though everybody I try to reject by
classification, God
sends
back into my life to educate me.)
“But what I really came to see you about”, Tom said,
“is something you
said
to me on the last day of class.”
(He remembered!)
He continued, “I asked you if you thought I would ever
find God and you
said, ‘No!’ which surprised me.
Then you said, ‘But He will find you.’
I thought about that a lot, even though my search for
God was hardly
intense at that time.”
(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)
“But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that’s when I got serious about locating God.
And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began
banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.
But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened.
Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no
success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then
you quit.”
“Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few
more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may
not be there, I just quit.. I decided that I didn’t really care about God,
about an after
life, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I
had left doing
something more profitable. I thought about you a nd
your class and I
remembered something else you had said:” “The essential
sadness is to
go through life without loving. But it would be almost
equally sad to go
through life and leave this world without ever telling
those you loved
that
you had loved them.’”
“So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad.
He was reading the newspaper when I approached him.
“Dad.”
“Yes, what?”, he asked without lowering the newspaper.
“Dad, I would like to talk with you.”
“Well, talk.”
“I mean… It’s really important”.
The newspaper came down three slow inches.
“What is it?”
“Dad, I love you–I just wanted you to know that.”
Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction,
as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.
“The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father
did two things I
could never remember him ever doing before. He cried
and he hugged me.
We
talked all night, even though he had to go to work the
next morning. It
felt so good to be close to my father, to see his
tears, to feel his
hug,
to hear him say that he loved me.”
“It was easier with my mother and little brother. They
cried with me,
too,
and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice
things to each
other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret
for so many
years. I was only sorry about one thing — that I had waited so
long. Here I as, just beginning to open up to all the people I had
actually been close
to.”
“Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He
didn’t come to me
when
I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal
trainer holding out a
hoop:” ‘C’mon, jump through. C’mon, I’ll give You three
days, three
weeks.’
“Apparently God does things in His own way and at His
own hour. But the
important thing is that He was there. He found me! You
were right. He
found
me even after I stopped looking for Him.”
“Tommy”, I practically gasped: “I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: ‘God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.’”
“Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were areal pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would youcome into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn’t be half as effective as if you were to tell it.”
“Ooh I was ready for you, but I don’t know if I’m ready for your class.”
“Tom, think about it If and when you are re ady, give me a call.”
In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.
However, he never made it.
He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.
He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.
Before he died, we talked one last time. “I’m not going to make it to your class”, he said. “I know, Tom.”
“Will you tell them for me? Will you tell the whole world for me?”
“I will, Tom. I’ll tell them. I’ll do my best.”
So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple story about God’s love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven — I told them, Tommy as best I could.
If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend or two.
It is a true stor y and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
With thanks,
Rev. John Powell, Professor Loyola University in
Chicago
Everyday is more ordinary than the last
And I wear a stoic mask
Hiding behind indifference
Hoping to keep away the pain
Of a vicious cycle
Repeating the disappointment
Repeating the anguish
Repeating itself in the name of “love”
But deep down
In a hidden clove of my soul
I pray to find my one
The one that makes me whole
No longer will I wear that mask
No longer will I pretend not to care
Because I finally will
This one is absolutely fantastic!
From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:
What Equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever w! onder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been in situations where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about
achieving 101%?
What equals 100% in life?
Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these
Questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
AND, look how far the love of God will take you
L- O- V- E-O-F-G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%
Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:
While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it’s the Love of God that will put you over the top!Please send this to your friends and pray for him/her who sent to you.You will be blessed.
What Children Learn Fast About the Great Things in Life
No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats.
When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don’t let her brush your hair.
If your sister hits you, don’t hit her back. They always catch the second person.
Never ask a 3-year old to hold a tomato.
You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic-tac.
Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.
School lunches stick to the wall.
You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.