Embracing Imperfection

When I was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom, and ask me how my day was at school.

I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember Watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!

When I got Up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad For burning the toast. And I'll never forget what he said: 'Baby, I love burned toast.'

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if He really liked his toast burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said,

'Debbie, your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides-a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!' You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best housekeeper or cook.'

What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is the one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting
relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of GOD. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where burnt toast isn't a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship in fact - as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!! "

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket but into your own."

See through God's eyes and feel through God's heart. And you will appreciate the value of every soul including yourself.

Positive Attitude

1. When Snake is alive, Snake eats Ants.
When Snake is dead, Ants eat Snake.
Time can turn at any time.
Don't neglect anyone in your life.......

2. Never make the same mistake twice,
There are so many new ones,
Try a different one each day.

3. A good way to change someone's attitude is to change your own.
Because, the same sun that melts butter, also hardens clay!
Life is as we think, so think beautifully.

4. Life is just like a sea, we are moving without an end.
Nothing stays with us,
what remains is just the memories of some people who touched us as Waves.

5. Whenever you want to know how rich you are?
Never count your currency,
just try to Drop a Tear and count how many hands reach out to WIPE that - that is true richness.

6. Heart says to the eyes: see less, because you see and I suffer a lot.
Eyes replied, feel less because you feel and I cry a lot.

7. Never change your originality for the sake of others, because no one can play your role better than you.
So be yourself, because whatever you are, YOU are the best.

8. Baby mosquito came back after 1st time flying.
His dad asked him "How do you feel?"
He replied "It was wonderful, Everyone was clapping for me!"

Now that’s Positive Attitude.

Things Happen For A Reason

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned
to their first ministry, to reopen a church
in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October
excited about their opportunities. When they saw
their church, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything
done in time to have their first service
on Christmas Eve.


They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,
painting, etc, and on December 18
were ahead of schedule and just about finished.


On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving
rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.


On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had
leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall
of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,
beginning about head high.


The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,
and not knowing what else to do but postpone
the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was
having a flea market type sale for charity, so he
stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross
embroidered right in the center. It was just
the right size to cover the hole in the front
wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

B y this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was
trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor
invited her to wait in the warm church for
the next bus 45 minutes later.



She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor
while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put
up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor
could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and
it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor,"
she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check
the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into
it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor
told how he had just gotten "The Tablecloth". The
woman explained that before the war she and
her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .

When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;
but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
The pastor insisted on driving her home. That
was the least he could do. She lived on the other
side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas
Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the
spirit were great. At the end of the service, the
pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door
and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized
from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the
pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he
wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on
the front wall because it was identical to one
that his wife had made years ago when
they lived in Austria before the war and how
could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he
forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home
again all the 35 years between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to
take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten
Island and to the same house where the pastor
had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of
stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on
the door and he saw the greatest Christmas
reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
who says God does work in mysterious ways.
I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for
you today, to guide you and protect you as you go
along your way. His love is always with you. His
promises are true, and when we give Him all our
cares we know He will see us through.

S o when the road you're traveling seems
difficult at best, just remember I'm here
praying and God will do the rest.



Pass this on



to those you want God to bless and remember to ask God to bless you first.

When there is nothing left but God, that is when
you find out that God is all you need Take 60
seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply
say the following small prayer for the person
who sent this to you.

Father, G od, bless all my friends and family in what
ever it is that You know they may be needing this
day! May their lives be full of Your peace,
prosperity and power as they seek to have a
closer relationship with You.

A Scorpion Moment

There was this Hindu who saw a scorpion floundering around in the water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. The man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again.

A man nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion that kept stinging him.

But the Hindu said: "It is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?"

Don't give up loving.
Don't give up your goodness.
Even if people around you sting.

-Author Unknown-

In All Things, Give Thanks.

The following post was sent to me by a friend in November. I did not open the mail till now because I have been so busy and inundated by many emails. Still, even though it was meant for the Thanksgiving season, I am posting it as a reminder to all of us as to the importance of being thankful for whatever, whoever we have. Take care and may the Almighty bless you and yours always.

____________________

It was 1935 and we were a group of friends enjoying an after-dinner conversation. Because Thanksgiving was just around the corner and prosperity wasn't, we fell to talking about what we had to be thankful for.

"Well I for one am grateful to Mrs. Wendt, an old school teacher, who 30 years ago in a little West Virginia town went out of her way to introduce me to the works of the poet, Tennyson."

Then I launched into a colorful description of Mrs. Wendt, a lovely little old lady who had been my high school teacher and who had made a deep impression on my life.

"And does this Mrs. Wendt know that she made that contribution to your life?" one of my friends asked me.

"I'm afraid she doesn't. I have been careless and have never, in all these years, told her either face-to-face or by letter."

"Then why don't you write her? It would make her happy if she is still living, and it might make you happier, too. The thing that most of us ought to do is to learn to develop the attitude of gratitude."

That friend's challenge made me see that I had received something very precious and hadn't bothered to say thanks. That very evening, I tried to atone. On the chance that Mrs. Wendt, might still be living, I sat down and wrote her what I call a "Thanksgiving letter."

In the letter I reminded her that it was she who had introduced my young mind to the works of Tennyson and Browning and others and that she had made a major difference in my life.

It took a couple of weeks for Mrs. Wendt's letter to reach her after being forwarded from town to town. Finally it reached her, and this is the handwritten note I had in return. It began:

"My Dear Willie," (The introduction itself was quite enough to warm my heart. Here I was, a man of 50, fat and bald, and to be addressed as "Willie.")

"I remember well your enthusiasm for Tennyson and the Idylls of the Kings when I read them to you for you were so beautifully responsive. My reward for telling you about Tennyson did not have to wait until your belated note of thanks came to me in my old age. I received my best reward your eager response to the lyrical beauty and the idealism of Tennyson."

"But in spite of the fact that I got much of my reward at that time, I want you to know what your note meant to me. I am now an old lady in my 80's, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely and seemingly like the last leaf of fall left behind."

"You will be interested to know, Willie, that I taught school for 50 years and, in all that time, yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered my lonely old heart as nothing has cheered me in many years."

I wept over that simple, sincere note from my teacher of long ago. I read it to a dozen friends. One of them said, "I believe I'm going to write Miss Mary Scott a letter. She did something similar to that for my boyhood."

That first Thanksgiving letter was so successful and satisfying that I made a list of people who had contributed something definite and lasting to my life and decided to write at least one "Thanksgiving letter" every month.

For 10 years, I have kept up this exciting game of writing Thanksgiving month letters. I have a special file for answers, and now I have more than 500 of the most beautiful letters anyone has ever received.

A Thanksgiving letter isn't much. Only a few lines and a stamp to mail it. But the rewards are so great that only eternity can estimate them.

Thanks to the challenge of a friend, I have learned a little, at least, about gratitude.

- Written by William L."Big Bill" Stidger (1885-1949) who was one of the preachers interviewed by Sinclair Lewis when he wrote his novel "Elmer Gantry." Big Bill Stidger was the pastor of the Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City who wrote poems such as "I Saw God Wash the World," a 1918 book about World War I veterans "Soldier Silhouettes."

Admitting Flaws

In the mid-1980's researchers at Cleveland State University made a startling discovery.

They conducted an experiment by creating two fictitious job candidates David and John. The candidates had identical resumes and letters of reference. The only difference was that John's letter included the sentence "Sometimes, John can be difficult to get along with".

They showed the resumes to a number of personnel directors. Which candidate did the personnel directors overwhelmingly prefer? Difficult to get along with, John.

The researchers concluded the criticism of John made praise of John more believable. Admitting John's wart actually helped sell John. Admitting flaws gives you more credibility.

A key to selling.

-Author Unknown-

A Beautiful Legend

There is a Cherokee legend that defines how a Cherokee boy is to become a man.

His father must take him deep into the forest at night, blindfold him, and leave him there alone. The boy must sit on a stump the entire night and not remove his blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through. He cannot cry out for help.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He hears the wind blow and the many strange noises of the night. Wild beasts must surely be around him . Maybe even a human will do him harm but he must sit stoically, never removing the blindfold. It is the only way he can become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appears and he removs his blindfold.

It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

~ Cherokee Legend ~

Happy New Year everyone!

I AM THANKFUL

1. For the wife who says it's hot dogs tonight, because she is home with me, and not out with someone else.

2. For the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato, because he is home with me and not out at the bars.

3. For the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes, because it means she is home, not on the streets.

4. For the taxes I pay, because it means I am employed.

5. For the mess to clean after a party, because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

6. For the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means I have enough to eat.

7. For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am out in the sunshine.

8. For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing, because it means I have a home.

9. For all the complaining I hear about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.

10. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means I am capable of walking and I have been blessed with transportation.

11. For my huge heating bill, because it means I am warm. For the lady behind me in church who sings off key, because it means I can hear.

12. For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes to wear.

13. For the weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been capable of working hard.

14. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means I am alive!