Wall Photo by Glen Arbor

ROCK ON: A tree encloses a rock in the woods

The power of nature is truly deserving of respect. In time water will wear down a rock until it is no more. A living tree can overcome and enclose a a rock if only for a little while. There is a lesson here for those who contemplate such things. But ponder this: the tree will die and decay, and in so doing will continue to nourish the life of the forest. The rock will endure for 10,000 years or more until at last it is worn down by the relentless power of the rain until it becomes no more than a grain of sand. Which one has more impact on the life of the forest, the tree whose decaying body will nourish the forest, or the rock who will one day become no more than a grain of sand? I vote for the nourishing tree as a giver of life, but then I have always been one with a propensity for nurturing.

A cloud of fish swimming in blue waters look like a comtemporary abstract painting.  Monet would be jealous of this image. 

People never forget how you make them feel

Maya Angelou, a wise woman with a kind and generous heart once said: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

How true that is if you think about it. We spend so much time carefully choosing our words in conversation and in letters, but it is the way that people feel when we communicate with them that they remember. Have we made them feel loved, appreciated and cherished?

In the long run do people remember our accomplishments, the honors we have received, the places that we have been? Or do they remember the time we spent together sitting on the end of the dock with our feet in the water just being together and being friends who love each other? Or the times we simply sat in the kitchen sharing a pot of tea when they just needed someone to talk to.

I'd like to think that I remember this, but I know I forget as the days march on like litle pebbles falling out of my hand. I forget to show those that I love how much I love them by making something special that they like to eat, or making a pot of tea, or even just coming home with a package of gum.

"I'm home and I have a present for you," I say brightly as I come in the back door.

It's just a pack of gum but it says I thought about you and I do love you so much. My Dad used to do that all the time. How I miss that now that he is gone. I miss that, and driving down the highway together singing "Skinny marink a dink a dink, skinny marink a doo....I love you." You never forget times like that. Never.

Self-fullfilling prophecies

The trouble with calling everyone out for racisim is that it becomes self-fullfilling.  If you see racism in everything others think and say, it engraves it in stone. 

When you are raising children, telling them that they are good children, that they are thoughtful and polite helps to reinforce that behavior.  You know the old teacher's maxim..."Catch them when they are being good and reinforce that."  The opposite is also true.  If you tell children that they are bad, disrespectful, and thoughtless, that is what you will get from them.  They will live up to your expectations...what ever they are.

Now former President Carter says he sees racisim in criticism of President Obama.  Is that true?  Certainly there are those who harbor a racist animosity towards Obama, but is that true of all who criticize Obama's policies?  I think not. 

Obama is trying to move the country rapidly towards social change, and it is change that many do not feel comfortable with.  Dissent is a high form of patriotism, and the motives of those who dissent should not be impugned.  Carter projecting racist fears and motives on all who criticize Obama's policies is a political ploy aimed at suppressing dissent and changing the subject.  He owes this country a higher level of political discourse than that. 

Our deepest fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."     - Nelson Mandela

Some quotes I like

"The genius of communication is the ability to be both totally honest and totally kind at the same time."        A favorite quote that my Father liked, but I do not know who the author is.

"All despair is fundamentally a despair of being ourselves."  -- Soren Kierkegaard

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way." -- Victor E. Frankel

A Song for Will

To William, the brave, who loves beautiful colors, interesting stories,

Bright colored birds, video games, paintings by Van Gogh,

Starry starry nights, music for dancing, and dreams of things that will be.

Brave he is...oh yes....brave of heart....brave in his efforts to overcome.

Quick he is....youbetcha......quick to learn the most difficult things.

Figures out how to put things together....solves puzzles in a flash.

Daring he is...dares to care...dares to listen....dares to dream.

Listens when you are hurting....listens well.

Says things that help you heal....gives love a chance.

William is one of God's special angels.

Grounded in faith....Supported by love.