My Most Precious Gifts

My most precious gifts (alive) -

My Husband

our Children and their Families

our Extended Families

my Ward Family

my Friends

and those Family and Friends I don't know yet

"A stranger's just a friend you do not know"

I don't have to 'write it on my heart'

they are a part of my heart, my mind, my life.

"I'd Rather See A Sermon"

I'd Rather See A Sermon                    Edgar A. Guest
	I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear, Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear; And the best of all preachers are the men who live their creeds, For to see good put in action is what everybody needs. I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done; I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do; For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

       

"Myself"

On our drive out to Garden World on Saturday afternoon last week 

I saw this Strelitzia

with the afternoon sun shining through the leaves.

I enjoyed the moment!

Myself

by Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,

I want to be fit for myself to know;

I want to be able as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand with the setting sun

And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself as I come and go

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of man I really am;

I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in this struggle for fame and pelf (money),

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to think as I come and go

That I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me,

I see what others may never see,

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself -- and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

  

I came across this poem in the mid 1960's.

I have tried over the years in between to live up to this.

I continue to make progress in my own estimation.

IF...

Long ago I gave my Dad a copper plaque

like this with one of his favourite peoms

If

by Rudyard Kipling.

He put it up next to his desk.

I was rather taken with it myself.

Once in a Charity Shop I saw the same issue of the plaque as I gave my Dad.

I gratefully bought it.

It is next to our front door.

I am reminded of the noble principles of the poem

every time I walk outside.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

  But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

  Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

  If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

  And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

  And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

  And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

  To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

  Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

  Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

  If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

  With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

  And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.

Thank you Rudyard Kipling for penning these lines.

Messages All Around!

I was sitting at the red robot waiting for the light to change and

watching the flow of traffic all around me...

 

I noticed the utility vehicle across the road.

I noticed the words below his windscreen.

"ONE LIFE.  LIVE IT."

 

Oh yes!

 

Out came my camera and I snapped.

 

Anger and Acceptance

In the book "Bandiet out of Jail" by Hugh Lewin being read over SAFM radio at 11:45 weekday mornings -

"He could not achieve the necessary balance between anger and acceptance."

I can relate to that...

When the balance is not right the anger is not productive and the acceptance is passive.

Serenity, Courage, Wisdom

God grant me
the Serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage
to change the things I can
and
the Wisdom
to know the difference...

I came across this "Prayer of Serenity"
a long time ago.  I work to live by it.

I do my best to Do what needs Doing
by Me
and
Give Myself what I need.

Prize and Price

"Those who'll play with cats must expect to be scratched."
Miguel de Cervantes

I'd like to add the words "Those who play carelessly with cats must expect to be painfully scratched."

In the home we grew up in we usually had at least one cat.
I learnt soon to stop and not move the minute the cat's claws came out.
The cat would then relax in time, retract her claws and we could carry on a respectful relationship with each other.

I wish I had a picture of a cat... I do not.
Occasionally I wish I still had a cat.
I do not want the responsibility.
So, when I get the opportunity, I enjoy the cats of those I visit.