One To Learn From . . .

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.

He was always there for her.

She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.

When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind.

The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her.

She hadn't expected that.

The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.

Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life is a gift.

Today before you say an unkind word --
Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food --
Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife --
Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life --
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before whining about the distance you drive --
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job --
Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and 

those who wish they had your job.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down --
Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.

 

 

Happy Without

Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life,

loved to go to the market.

When his students asked about this, he replied,

"I love to go and see all the things I am happy without."

Jack Kornfield

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry

How To Catch A Wild Pig

A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the Professor noticed one young man (an exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what the trouble was.

The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of relating his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said it was no joke.

"You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They will get used to that and start to eat once again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, now used to the free corn, will come through the gate to eat; then you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

"Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating t he free corn. They are now so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves anyway, so they simply accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America.

The government keeps pushing us into socialism and keeps spreading the free corn in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare, medicine, drugs, etc . . . all the while we continue to lose our freedoms . . . just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch!

Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

"A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is big enough to take away everything you have."
Thomas Jefferson

Real-life priests become pop stars

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/23/music.priests/index.html

Fathers Eugene O'Hagan and Martin O'Hagan, who are brothers, and David Delargy have been in the priesthood for some 20 years. But they've been singing together since their early teens.

In February they recorded a demo in Belfast which they sent off -- as Eugene O'Hagan puts it -- to "the powers that be." Sony BMG responded almost instantly with a very nice offering indeed, a record deal reportedly to the tune of somewhere north of $2 million.

The Priests' debut album will be released on November 18 and was produced by Mike Hedges, known for his work with U2 and -- ironically -- Manic Street Preachers (who, of course, are not clergy but punky Welshmen). Some recording took place in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and the priests maintain they'd like some of the profits from their music endeavors donated to a charity of their choice.

2008 Election Humor

Sign in Louisiana

Stay With Me, Lords

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You.
You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You I am without meaning and hope.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I can hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You ever more, and to be in Your company always.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a dwelling of Your love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late; the days are coming to a close and life is passing.
Death, judgment and eternity are drawing near.
It is necessary to renew my strength , so that I will not stop along the way, and for that I need You.

It is getting late and death approaches.
I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows.
O how I need you, my Jesus, in this might of exile!

Stay with me, Jesus, because in the darkness of this life, with all its dangers, I need You.

Help me to recognize You as Your disciples did at the Breaking of the Bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the power which sustain me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death I want to be one with You, and if not by Communion, at least by Your grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolations because I do not deserve them, but I only ask for the gift of Your presence.
Oh yes!  I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for I seek You alone, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and I ask for no other reward but to love You more and more, with a strong and active love.

Grant that I may love You with all my heart while on earth, so that I can continue to love You perfectly throughout all eternity, dear Jesus.  Amen!

 

St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Permanent

There is nothing permanent except change.

--Heraclitus

Nobody knows how to do life perfectly - 

that's why we need our Higher Power to guide us.

We Are Vehicles Of Response

The principles of mysticism rise from the heart of man;

they are learnt by intuition and proved by reason.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

We are vehicles or instruments that respond.

If we respond to goodness, goodness becomes our property.

If we respond to evil, then evil becomes our property.

If we respond to love, then love becomes our possession.

If we respond to hatred, hatred becomes our life.

And if we respond to the things of the earth so much that our whole life becomes absorbed in worldly things, then it is quite natural that we should not respond to those riches which are within us

Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Feverish Anticipation

So much of modern life is a feverish anticipation

 of future activity and excitement.

We have to learn to step back from this 

into the freedom and possibility of the present.

Fr. Bede Griffiths

Personal Responsibility

There will be times when other people will disappoint us - either intentionally or because of indifference or incompetence.
If we have been counting on them, their nonperformance can cause us real anger and frustration.

Our growth, however, should teach us that such failures are part of life.
While never losing trust in others, we must accept them as fallible people.
Their mistakes and lapses come from the human shortcomings all of us have.

Our best course is to live without expecting too much from others.
They are not here to please or satisfy us.
It's possible, too, that we've been unrealistic in some of our expectations and have set ourselves up for disappointments.

Our personal responsibility is to do our best even when others fall short of our expectations.
At the same time, we can grow by becoming more reliable and dependable ourselves.

We cannot use another's failure as an excuse for negligence on our part.

Today I'll expect the best, but I will know that I also have the spiritual resources to deal with the worst that can happen.

Walk in Dry Places by Mel B.

Restore Not Change

Not long ago I read what was, supposedly, a joke ... It said all the politicians running for president are promising change to the American people.

We send them billions and billions of tax dollars and they send us the change.

Funny? Not really; there is too much truth in it to be funny.

And every day, I receive candidate-bashing cartoons, stupid, political one-liners about lipstick wearing pigs, hockey mom's, etc.

C'mon folks!!  Give it a rest!!

Instead of bashing the crap out of one candidate while touting another & generally forcing your unsolicited opinions on others, think about this.

They ALL promise change.

How about if they run on a promise of restoration rather than change. A restoration that would take us back in time to a place where things ran better, smoother and life was more enjoyable. Change? That, in truth, is what they have been giving us all along.

 

We USED to have a strong dollar ... Politicians changed that.

Life USED to be sacred ... Politicians changed that.

Marriage USED to be sacred ... Politicians are changing that.

We USED to be respected around the world ... Politicians changed that.

We USED to have a strong manufacturing economy ... Politicians changed that.

We USED to have lower tax structures ... Politicians changed that.

We USED to enjoy more freedoms ... Politicians changed that.

We USED to be a large exporter of American made goods ... Politicians changed that. We USED to be an OPENLY Christian nation ...Politicians changed that.

We USED to teach patriotism in schools ...Politicians changed that.

We USED to educate children in schools ...Politicians changed that.

We USED to enjoy freedom of speech ... Politicians changed that.

We USED to ENFORCE LEGAL citizenship ...Politicians changed that.

We USED to have affordable food & gas prices... Politicians changed that, too

... and one could go on and on with this list.

 

What hasn't been changed, politicians are promising to change that as well if you will elect them.

When, oh WHEN, is America going to sit back with open eyes and look at what we once were and where we have come and say, enough is enough?

The trouble is, America's youthful voters today don't know of the great America that existed forty and fifty years ago.

They see the world as if it has always existed, as it is now.

When will we wakeup?

Tomorrow may be too late.

When will America realize ... Politicians are what is wrong with America?

Change . . . . No!!!!

Restore . . . Yes!!!!

 

"Politicians and diapers need to be changed regularly
 -- and for the same reason."

 

The Healing Power

Love itself is the healing power and the remedy for all pain.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

Forgiveness & Freedom

It is the act of forgiveness that

opens up the only possible way to think

creatively about the future at all.

-- Father Desmond Wilson

 

Today is full of endless possibilities and dreams.

In many cases, I are limited only by my fear and lack of hope, in others and ourselves myself.

Each new day I am given a clean page to live in my book of life.

What freedom I find when I choose to practice the art of forgiveness.

Forgiving others and myself will allow me to step into this new day as free human beings.

Freedom is a gift I give myself every time I choose not to react to a hurtful comment.

Holding on to old resentments keeps my creative energy trapped and stifled.

My choices are these: new freedom or old resentment.

I choose new freedom.

It is the gift I give myself when I choose not to let the sun rise on yesterday's script.

Today let me forgive everyone and anything - past and present - that might distract me from my spiritual growth.

Perspective

Your perspective will change your perception.

Your perception will change your experience.

Your experience is your life.

Open Heart

As one can see when the eyes are open,

so one can understand when the heart is open.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

The Bowl of Saki

Neither swift nor easy

. . . I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.

Marie Curie

 

The patterns I am weaving with my life are complex, full of intricate detail and knots.

I need to go slow, taking only one stitch at a time.

With hindsight I will see that whatever the progress, it was the perfect fit to the overall design.

Belated Happy Birthday U.S. Navy!!

"For in this modern world, the instruments of warfare are not solely for waging war. Far more importantly, they are the means for controlling peace. Naval officers must therefore understand not only how to fight a war, but how to use the tremendous power which they operate to sustain a world of liberty and justice, without unleashing the powerful instruments of destruction and chaos that they have at their command."

Admiral Arleigh Burke, CNO, 1 August 1961, Change of command address at Annapolis, MD

Today (Oct. 13, 2008) is the 233rd birthday of the United States Navy.

And 100 years after President Teddy Roosevelt used the Navy's "Great White Fleet"  to promote America's emerging role in the world, take a look at.....

Where in the world is the Great White Fleet?

Living Prayer

The saying goes.... "Prayer is talking to God, and meditation is listening to God."

A few years ago, I went to a seminar on meditation.

The spiritual teacher, taught and demonstrated many forms of meditation.

One of the forms he demonstrated was what he called, "Living Meditation".

Living meditation is a method of contemplative introspection while moving through our daily lives.

It is a way, to slow down, and cast our thinking inside of our hearts, before verbalizing our feelings and thoughts.

This method allows us to "speak from the heart".

This methodology also teaches us to be a part of, rather than separate from.

Try it! You will like it!  

I was meditating this morning, and my inspiration came.

Why not create Living Prayer.

Yes! Live a prayer!

Choose something that you pray for and bring it into the world.

If you pray for God's will, "Let Go and Let God".

Trust in God!

If you pray to be loved, be loving.

If you pray for health, (even if you are sick) act as if you are healthy, and help another.

The point is, prayer works if we work it.

Open your hearts to your "Higher Power" and the possibilities are endless.

Live your prayers and you will see the miracles that God wants for all of us.  

Today I will live my prayers.  

I will be contemplative and speak from my heart.

I will be a part of rather than separate from.