Thoughts To Live By

For those that know me - you know how I like to talk and what I have written here is kind of long but it is really important to me so I thought I would share it with all of the people in my life who are also important to me! So hopefully you will have time at some point to read it!

This morning when I got to work I talked to a friend of mine here. We talked about complaining, thankfulness and life. Throughout the past week I have had those types of conversations with several people. It has been an eye-opener and made me realize how much we forget the small things - the things that are most important. Some that have really stood out to me are:

Treat others as you would like to be treated. How many times do we - as humans - do or things out of spite, revenge, envy, jealousy or for no reason at all to other people. If the tables were turned is that how we would want to be treated? This holiday season and throughout the year I will do just that - treat others as I would like to be treated!

Let go and Let God. This is my favorite. We often think we can "fix" things and think we know what is best but GOD is the only one that knows! Boy do I know I need to let go of some things! God can not give us answers if we truly never let go! When anger or hurt pops into your head or heart say "God take this from me, give me peace and remove the planks from their eyes and if I have one, remove it from mine"

Do things out of love not recognition - that is what will truly be noticed. My mom taught me this one and the very next week at church they talked about the same thing! Give gifts anonymously! Volunteer without patting yourself on the back. Truly good deeds will go noticed by others and by God whether you think they will or not!

Be grateful for what you have. Now how true is this! We complain about so much but how often are we really grateful for the good. I don't know if they realize I noticed this but my mom and grandmother used to always say things such as, "Thank you God for a beautiful day!" How often do we grumble at the rain but never give the sunshine a second thought? At a marketing meeting yesterday we were told TWICE as many people relay a bad experience than relay a good one. Lets turn those figures around!

It is truly better to give than to receive! This is especially important this time of the year. This is our Savior's BIRTHDAY and we should be thankful and happy all day no matter what. How happy it makes me to be a child of the King! What a wonderful thing to give when you can and what you can! This reminds me of the story in the bible where the "rich" man gave a lot of money and a poor woman gave only a small amount but this was greater in God's eyes for this small amount was all she had - the rich man could have given so much more! I do think that this should apply to all things in life not just monetary things but LOVE and RESPECT.

No matter what ... in any circumstance ...

Psalm 113:3 "From the rising of the sun to the going down of same, the Lord's name is to be praised."

Now that I have rambled on and on I am going to leave you with one more great story one of our co-workers wrote and sent around today! May we all remember to count our blessings and be grateful this CHRISTmas! Love, Tiffany

What I am thankful for this CHRISTmas season -
I am working on a photograph album of the snapshots of our grandchildren from 2005 to give to my son and daughter in-law for Christmas. I've sat at the computer for hours deciding which ones were "worthy" of a place in the album, I've had them printed, sorted them in date order, bought just the right genuine leather album to put them in - because after all, this album should make a statement, right?-it's my gift to my son and daughter-in-law and I want them to be properly impressed with it.

Last night as I sat in my recliner which I haven't had a chance to sit in much for the past two months, I started placing these photographs into the album and something hit me for the first time-90% of these photographs were taken at places that no longer exist due to Hurricane Katrina.

Oh, there's one of my grandson's baseball pictures - wonder where they're going to play next year. Here's the other grandson's karate pictures - well, someday they will rebuild that karate school and he'll be able to start enjoying again those grueling three-times-a-week sessions that he's become so good at.

And here's my precious granddaughter, sitting on the steps of USM, our FAVORITE place to take pictures - well, there'll be another favorite place. I think that big, beautiful tree might have survived the storm, but that's all. That tree just might have to become our favorite spot now.
And here's Easter lunch at the buffet at the Grand. We've been there every year after Easter services for three years now. We need to start cooking at their house on Easter anyway - the Grand was always TOO expensive for that many people. (Guess who always paid the bill!)

Oh, my, (as the tears start to flow) here's the Easter Sunday pictures at St. Patricks. For some reason it's always buggy on the Coast on Easter Sunday, and every year the children are always swatting gnats in their "new Easter clothes" pictures. This last year was no exception. Their beautiful, little church right across the street from the beach, where the azaleas are always blooming on Easter, is now only a slab. They're now holding church services in the gym at Coast Episcopal and the spirit is still there, but -oh, that beautiful little church where they were married and all their children were baptized is no more.

Let me get up and get myself a Diet Coke and get myself together so I can finish this album tonight. Okay, that's better. Now, where was I - okay, here's the beach pictures . . . the ones that were taken August 21, my son's birthday, just one week before Katrina. As far as beaches go, this is not necessarily the prettiest beach, but it was OUR beach, the one where the children played, and I snapped photographs till my heart was content. I guess it will be a long time before we get beach pictures again, but one day . . .

Then I realized that all of these places were just places. Our children and grandchildren were safe at our home when the storm hit. Their home suffered minimal damage compared to those that lost everything. My husband and I are so blessed that we have our family that means everything to us and that they are safe and have a home. They still don't have a "real" school, but that should happen after New Year's, and then, in their minds, they'll be all set and back to normal.

There's not many photographs of my daughter and her husband yet - not nearly enough to fill an album, but guess what, come February 11 (or thereabouts) we're going to be blessed with another precious life in this family of ours, and I guarantee you that next Christmas they'll have an album, too. The only difference will be that instead of taking pictures because it's what I do and something that I've become good at--deleting the ones that aren't technically just right or the ones where someone has a strange look on their face--I'll be taking pictures for the sheer joy of documenting my family and our times together, of watching my grandchildren grow and you can bet that with every click of the shutter, they'll be a silent prayer of thanks for the blessings I have been given.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. I don't usually document to paper many of my thoughts, but I really needed to stop and reflect on the past year this CHRISTmas. God is so good and we have been blessed.