August 2011
2 posts
Cloud with a Silver Lining
With wonders of Social Media, today, I logged onto my Facebook page and went to my profile, and realized that all four of the first friends that appeared had passed away with the last year.
It was oddly comforting, and yes, a bit bizarre at the same time. But how nice it was to remember that they were and yes, still are, my friends.
People come in and out of our lives. They give us love, job,...
April 2011
4 posts
The Hawk: A Messenger From God
I recently lost a very close friend, and was given the gift of officiating her service.
I have long had a special relationship with the blue heron, and have written about it previously in this blog. So I assumed last week, that I would again be visited by a Blue Heron. Imagine my frustration as day after day went by, with no Blue Heron coming to see me at my lake.
My friend and I had in...
Finding Acceptance in the Unacceptable...
It may be one of the most quoted passages in literature. It’s from Page 449 (first 3 editions, pg. 417 in the 4th edition) of Alcoholics Anonymous or The Big Book as it is widely known:
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation — some fact of my life — unacceptable to me, and I...
January 2011
3 posts
A Trip to The Abbey...
I recently had the gift to be allowed to visit the Gethsemani Abbey outside of Bardstown, Kentucky. When I was going to graduate school in Kentucky, women were not allowed on the grounds, but that has changed since I last tried to visit. I was even allowed to attend a service observing the monks.
I have been contemplating what it must be like for the monks of Gethsemani to have a life...
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not...”
– Thomas Merton
December 2010
2 posts
A Cheerful Giver! A GRATEFUL Receiver!
How I long for the simpler times from my childhood, I spent many a Christmas in front of the Christmas tree, singing carols and making homemade ornaments. My grandmother and I use to make fruit cakes every year. I would make Christmas Trees out of old phone books and Sears and Roebucks catalogs. And of course, we would watch ‘White Christmas’, ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’...
November 2010
45 posts
“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks”.”
– Unknown
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person....”
– Albert Schweitzer
“Gratitude preserves old friendships, and procures new.”
“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of...”
– Elie Wiesel
“Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic”
– John Henry Jowett
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to...”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.”
– Gertrude Stein
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls”
– Aesop
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy”
– Jacques Maritain
“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into...”
– Eileen Caddy
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
– Lionel Hampton
“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”
– Kahlil Gibran
“When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears”
– Anthony Robbins
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not...”
– ~William Arthur Ward
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for...”
– ~Aldous Huxley
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation...”
– ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our...”
– ~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition
“I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be...”
– ~Benjamin Disraeli
“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and...”
– ~William Faulkner
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of...”
– ~W.T. Purkiser
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but...”
– ~Epictetus