Is It YOUR Season?

     “To everything there is a season - - -“ [Ec. 3:1]

     Therein lies a very basic concept that when reviewed appears to apply to practically everything in our lives in some form or fashion.  When we think about our farmers in this country and all over the world for that fact, everything has “its season.”  It doesn’t matter what they are growing: corn, wheat, watermelons, cantaloupes, beans, peas, or anything else, they all have their time to plant and their time to reap!  It also works for the ranchers, regardless of what they are raising: cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits, or other animals, they all have their season.  Various times when their animals conceive and then give birth to their young.

     Who of us does not enjoy the changing of the seasons during each year.  There are times when we enjoy the warm summer months and making a visit to the ocean or the cooler winter months and perhaps trekking into the mountains or going to one of the national parks.  Even due to these seasonal changes we enjoy watching the various birds migrate back and forth or watching the leaves change color on the trees.  Yes “to everything there is a season!”

     What about you?  Do you have YOUR season?  Some people would answer very readily: “Oh, yes I do!”  They may be more receptive to the warm summer months and really dreadful of the cold winter months.  Or maybe they are just the opposite.  They can’t stand the heat and prefer to have the colder weather.  Or maybe you are like many people and would rather have it cold when the weather is hot and hot when the weather is cold!  For myself, sometimes I’d like it be a comfortable 70-75 degrees during the day and about 60-65 degrees at night YEAR ROUND!  Of course, I haven’t begun (nor will I) to discuss the humidity!

     It could be possible that your “season” may even be defined within a shorter period of time.  You know the people I am talking about.  You’re one of them: Which one I don’t know.  That all depends on you!  They’re morning people or there are night people.  Your entire daily routine can be fashioned around which one of these people you are.  And, at times, your activities can be completely thrown off balance if you are asked to adjust your daily “season.”  You’ve had it happen.  You’re a night person and you’re very comfortable sleeping in until eleven o’clock in the morning (easy!)  But today, for some reason, the doctor has given you a NINE O’clock appointment!  There had been NO WAY to change it to the afternoon (and you tried to do so REALLY hard).  And now your day has been completely disrupted

     These things happen and we have to deal with them the best we can.  And in most cases we don’t DIE because of the change.  Although we do let people around us know that we ARE NOT satisfied with what is going on.  These “seasons” whether forced upon us by our own restrictions or desired limitations or naturally occurring around us must be dealt with for us to continue within the confines of this world.  Those “seasons” that we impose upon ourselves can be changed if our circumstances require them to be.  However, it would be shear foolishness on our part to think that we could change the “seasons” that exist in the natural world.  From time to time men try to change such things, but he should always remember that man IS NOT GOD!  We are only dust - - - we are only human!”

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHFUL GEM

"If you believe you can ---

so will others"

There's No Time Like NOW!

     “Humanity has not been this close to oblivion since the darkest early days of the Cold War, a team of scientists concluded yesterday.  The scholars who control the Doomsday Clock, a 70-year-old device warning of impending apocalypse, nudged it forward 30 seconds.  The hands now stand at two-and-a-half minutes to midnight.” The Times, January 27, 2017.

     Over the past 100 years there have been dozens of predictions of the end of the world.  And yet as you can see it is still here.  Does this mean that the removal of all the evil and badness in this world is not going to happen?  I don’t think so!  But for me to try and tell you when this end will come would be a surmountable act of pride and arrogance on my part.  So I’m not going to talk about the “end” of the world in this post.  However, what I am going to talk about is “our” end!  The ceasing of our life functions: The conclusion of our being able to continue as a living being!  What I’m going to talk about is our death: Or at least the time remaining until our death.

     Many people have their own beliefs as to what is going to happen to them after the moments of their last breath.  And I’m not going to spend the words in arguable debate about these different beliefs, although simple logic should be able to show you that not everyone’s beliefs can be right!  Not everyone can have the truthful answer to what happens to us at death.  Yet, putting the differences of our assumptions behind us for a moment there is part of this subject that we can all agree on: We ALL die!  At some point because of old age, or “natural” causes, or a disease, or an accident, a premeditated act by someone else, or by the actions taken during a period of war or some type of global incident:  We DIE!

     In this post I would like to discuss what are we doing with the time we have from NOW and that moment when, due to some reason as I previously mentioned above, we no longer exist among the living.  It seems that most of the time during our moments of living we spend complaining about our lot in life, how we have been mistreated by some circumstance beyond our control, or how it seems impossible for us to make any changes to improve our circumstances.  Why do we find it more advantageous for us to spend so much time dwelling on the things that we have no control over instead of trying to correct, if necessary, the things that we CAN control?

     Sometimes we can spend so much time analyzing a situation and all the possible out comes before we take ANY type of action that what we wind up doing is NOTHING!  You would think that at some point within our consideration of ALL possibilities we would come across a workable solution that we can put into action. Even if it is one solution that will not solve the problem completely or perhaps provides only a temporary solution!

     While considering the time we have to use between NOW and our final demise we really don’t have much time to be wasting it on pointless pursuits.  We’ll spend about one-third of our available time asleep.  We will be, for all practical purposes, unaware of the events that will be going on around us.  Approximately another one-third of our time will be consumed by employment activities.  We will go through our daily procedures and basically not consider any other activities that might be of greater benefits to us.  Although instead of concentrating on our work activities while at work we are usually planning what we want to be doing when we get away from work!  This only leaves approximately one-third of our available time to use in examining what greater beneficial activities we can partake in to help our fellow man.  However, we still must remove some more time from this available allotment.  We have to eat, we travel to and from work, we have to shop and there are probably other time constraints that must be taken into consideration.  With all these losses of time we, in actuality, have very little time within our life to use for the benefit of others.

     With that small, precious amount of time that IS available, we need to diligently work at making ourselves available so that we can aide our fellow man.  As far as we are concerned, our activities are very important not only to ourselves, but to others around us.  We will only have such opportunities as we make them available from the precious little time we have.  We must always remember that there is no time like the present to do whatever we can to serve others.  I guess that’s why we made up the saying: “NOW is the time to act!”

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Today YOU can be someone's hero!"

"A Time to Be Quiet"

     Last posting I talked about “A Time to Speak” but in all fairness and to give “equal billing” I have to write about “A Time to Be Quiet”.  We’ve all come to appreciate that there are those close friendships we develop as we journey down the road of life.  The friendships where we can tell our companion the innermost activities of our lives and WE KNOW that what we tell them will never be shared with another soul.  We can tell them things we’ve done in our lives, maybe some things that we are not very proud of that we had done, but we know we will not be judged and our secrets will continue to remain just that --- secrets!  We know we can tell this person things that we would like to do or maybe things we plan to do and never have to worry that our confidence has been misplaced.  At times this is not even true of those in positions of confidence: those who ARE NOT to divulge private information and yet it all too often becomes public knowledge.  And this is often to the financial gain of the one who was told this information in private.  It is truly a great gift and honored privilege to have such a confidant that we have come to know as one who will keep our private discussions always private and who will have OUR best interest at heart and not that of their own.

     I have a very dear friend who used to tell me (jokingly): “I don’t have a problem keeping a secret.  It’s all the people I tell who have the problem!”  At times there may be some truth to that statement.  We may “tell” someone some information thinking they already know what we are talking about.  But the point is when we are told something in confidence it should remain that way until we are told by the person who informed us that it is alright to share the information.  By doing otherwise we can bring hurt feelings and sometimes strained relationships into our lives.  It could be something very simple.  Your best friend has told you she is having a baby.  She and her husband had been waiting a long time for this event to happen.  You are extremely happy for her and you begin to tell all the acquaintances you know about the good news.  When SHE goes to share her joyful news she finds out everyone already knows because YOU told them.  Surely you could see how this would be somewhat disappointing to her.

     This little experience happened to me.  NO, I wasn’t expecting a baby and it’s not that it was some earth-shattering thing, but it did bring a little disappointment.  It was the 25^th anniversary of my wife and my wedding.  I got off work a bit early and brought my wife a box of candy and a flower arrangement.  When I got home I carefully opened the front door and my two young sons were in the front room.  I asked them (quietly) where their mother was and they told me she was in the bedroom putting away laundry.  So I came into the house with the box of candy and the flowers and my sons got really excited when they saw them.  I motioned for them to calm down and told them: “Don’t say anything.  I’m going to put the candy and the flowers on the kitchen table and we will just wait for your mother to find them.”  We sat in the front room and shortly my wife came out of the bedroom.  She looked at me a little funny and I told her I came home early from work so I could rest before we went out to eat.  Almost immediately my sons began to jump up and down proclaiming: “Look on the kitchen table! You have a surprise!”  And of course the surprise was over.
     There are also occasions, events and locations were silence is expected.  So there are obviously times when we need to be quiet.  Perhaps you can think of such times in your life where you recognized there was a “time to be quiet!”

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Love is the solution to ALL problems."

"A Time to Speak"

     Have you ever found yourself in a situation that afterwards you had thought to yourself:  “I should have said something?”  I think we all have at one time or another.  How do you feel about that?  I’m sure it would depend on the circumstances.  Now I’m not trying to give everyone a guilt complex.  But you can recall a time when maybe if you had only spoken up things would have turned out better (or at least different).  You know the type of situations I’m referring to:  If you are a woman you’ve had your best girlfriend meet some guy at the bar and later he wanted to give her a ride home and you’ve thought: “That’s probably not a good idea.”  But you didn’t say anything to her.  The next morning you find out she was taken to the hospital because she had been brutally assaulted!  And you guys, have you had that situation where you have been out with your buddy drinking and now he was going to leave and drive himself home?  You had that thought: “He really shouldn’t be driving.”  But you didn’t say anything to him.  The next day you found out he was in an auto accident and now laid up in the hospital with injuries!

     Sometimes the outcome of circumstances are not as complicated as those that I mentioned as examples, but there are so many that result in less critical results that it would be an endless continuation if I tried to list them all in this blog.  The finality of the point is that you could probably recall many such times and occasions in your own mind that would make the point much better than I am relating it here.

     What we have to do is train ourselves, not only to recognize these situations, but to have the inner fortitude to voice our opinions.  This is true even if our opinion is not always the most favorable one that someone might want to hear.  There is a current program on TV:  I think the name of it is “What Would You Do?”  Or something like that.  “Ordinary people find themselves put into situations where they need to “speak up” or “act” upon their opinions in order to, in some cases, “save” a total stranger from a bad circumstance.  It is extremely rewarding to see how often people will “put themselves out” in order to help others in these circumstances.

     It is also very comforting to know that often today business executives are not surrounding themselves with “yes” people.  But they want people around them who will give their honest opinions about conditions or circumstances developing within their company.  Ladies!  You need to speak up also.  Unfortunately there are too many reports (and I am sure many others situations unreported) about sexual harassment in the workplace.  And you men in these workplaces --- GROW UP!  You’re not high school teenagers any longer.  Act like the responsible adults you’re supposed to be and LISTEN to these women when they complain and get these situations in your companies corrected!  How would YOU feel if these things were happening to YOUR wives or sisters or daughters?  Well these ladies ARE some ones wife or sister or daughter and you should have the decency to treat them as such.

     Yes there is “a time to speak!”  This includes speaking to YOU!  Ask yourself questions, such as: How do I want others to treat me?  How can I be a better husband or wife?  A better son or daughter?  How can I give my employer the honest days work for the money he is paying me?  And employers:  How can you treat your employees fairly and not as “slave” labor?  Do I look at a person’s heart, actions, words and way of life and NOT their skin color, religious beliefs or nationality?  There are many more such questions we could ask ourselves, but I think you get the point.  Why would we want to do this periodically?  Well, if we want to admit it, or not, there is coming a time when we will have to “speak” to our creator and answer for ALL that we have done and said to others.  How do you think your words are going to sound at that time?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"A stranger is only a friend

you haven't met yet!"

Reflection

     Sometimes you feel the breeze gently flowing through your hair and the hot summer sun warming your face.  You begin to think that it would be nice to stay here and let ALL your other responsibilities just fade into the background.  But you know it wouldn’t be right to do this.  Too many people depend on you.  Too many people are waiting for the decisions that you have to make.  Too many people are waiting for YOU to take action and hopefully solve the problems in THEIR lives.

     It seems that we let, or perhaps we build, a place within ourselves that sparks that need to be wanted and loved.  And we feel that by continually giving of ourselves is the way that we will endear the affections of others.  Perhaps we think that without this constant outpouring of our very souls NO ONE will truly love us the way we need to be loved.  There’s nothing wrong with having a loving disposition:  A deep desire to use our lives in the benefit of others.  But there’s also nothing wrong with occasionally taking “personal” time and caring for our own needs.  You can certainly understand that while outpouring our feelings in activities for others we must “recharge” our own batteries from time to time less we reach a point where there just isn’t anything left to give!  Then how could we continue to be of any assistance to others if we ourselves were “empty?”

     How we do this “recharging” and for how long is going to vary from person to person.  But it truly is a necessary activity.  Your own body and mind will inform you when it is time.  You’ll get that “I can’t go on another step” feeling in yourself and you’ll know you need to do something “for you!”

     For men this need is certainly different for them than it is for women.  Women may need to spend a day at the spa or hair salon.  Or they may just want to go shopping for the day.  Men may want to do something more physical: play sports or go to the gym.  Of course, this will also may vary.  There may be those women who want to do something more physical and some men may want to go shopping.  And there is nothing wrong with these activities for either.  Also, either of them may want more “get away” time and go on a “special” vacation!  You will have to find what works for YOU!  I find in my own case, if it’s not writing, I like to play the computer games Minesweeper or Mahjong.  It seems that mentally concentrating on the solutions to the puzzles relaxes me and I feel ready to go again on some work assignment.  I know, it sounds crazy, but that’s what works in my case.

     He real “trick” is to NOT let the relaxation part of your “recharging” become the primary activity in your life.  You must keep all things in balance.  When you do this ALL things fall back into place and you are, once more, ready to face the world and all its problems.  How you handle this balancing act within your own life is going to be the factor that determines your success or failure, your happiness or your sadness.  Just always remember; however, it’s not a fail or pass scenario.  It’s just a matter of determining where adjustments need to be made and making them!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"One simple act of kindness

is a powerful force for good."

"That Place"

    We all have one.  It may be somewhere physical where we can go when we feel the pressures building up in us.  It may change at various times in our life.  When we’re younger we may “run away” to “that place” and ponder how we are going to deal with a situation that we have to get handled.  As we grow older our life’s journey may take us to many places in the world, but we will always find “that place” where we console ourselves and sort out the thoughts within our mind.  Or it may be a place close by: that comfortable chair in the corner of the room that we have so carefully placed by the picture window where we can look out into the “world” of our everyday life and ponder the solutions that we need to find.  And in time we are able to resolve our inner difficulties as long as we have available to us “that place.”  Or it may not involve a “physical” location at all.  We may just “loose” ourselves within our own minds and be able to find “that place” where we need to be for our own comfort.

     For some of us this can be a real possibility for trouble, harassment and even criticism from our family and friends.  We let ourselves get so concentrated deep within our minds that “that place” has become for us a reality.  When the pressures of “this” life become more than we want to deal with we can travel to “that place” in our mind and leave all the problems behind.  Some of us have “created” a dual life, perhaps one in which we are able to do all the things we are unable to do in “this” reality.  Often we, on occasion, almost want to decide to permanently leave this reality and stay in “that place” that we have created in our minds.  However by doing so we only exist in our newly created reality in our minds and our body is unable to make the transition into the alternate reality that we have decided to live in.  So our physical body stays “frozen” in “this” reality and gives the appearance to others that perhaps we have become comatose or we are in a comma or whatever medical name they want to use for it.

     However, if we handle “that place” with care, we can find that moments of visitation can be very comforting and prove to be a great aide in helping us to deal with the reality of this life.  You may need to spend time perfecting the ability to transport yourself to “that place” in your mind so you don’t lose your way back and become trapped: maybe forever!  Then again, you may be one of those people who should concentrate on locating a “physical” place where you can sort out the problems within your life.  To create “that place” in your mind may prove to be too great a temptation to escape “this” reality and you may not want to return.   The mind is a powerful organ that actually helps us decide what is “real” and what is not.  It seems regardless of our present circumstances we always want something different, something “better.”  This is possible because we’re only human.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The kite flies because of the unseen wind.

Be someone's wind today."

When I Wore a Younger Man's Shoes

     When I was a younger man I guided my own path.  I made the decisions I wanted to make and walked the rode wherever it led me.  I didn’t give too much consideration to how things turned out or what the consequences might be.  If I made the decision to go in a certain direction, that’s how I would walk.  Were all of my decisions the best?  NO!  But they were my decisions to make and I would make them.  I didn’t have to have anyone hold my hand either.  At times the winds were stiff and the going was difficult.  But, I had made the decision and I would face whatever came.

     When I walked in a younger man’s shoes I could dress myself and clean myself and was prepared to walk into the wind and deal with what would happen.  But the one component of life that you can’t change: regardless of your wealth, your status, your position or anything else --- TIME! Before you know it another person is deciding what you will be wearing.  They clean you up when it becomes necessary because you are no longer able to do so yourself.

     When I wore a younger man’s shoes I would decide to go here or go there.  I would not think twice about getting on a plane flying to the coast (either one) or even to Europe or some other place.  It was never the money or the time that would make my decision for me.  But wherever my heart chose to lead me that’s where I’d go.  I would at times even inquire of others as to their recommendations on perhaps new places I could visit.  Of course, in the end, it was always my decision when it came to the final choice of which location I would travel to: Or perhaps the decision would be to stay home and not travel at all.

     When I wore a younger man’s shoes NO ONE told me what I could or couldn’t eat.  My choices by many people were considered to be very “picky.”  Yet they were what I wanted to eat!  And my decisions were my own, even when I probably knew it would be better for me if I had something else to eat.  But as a younger man I could make the choices that I wanted and I could decide on the quantity of this decision too.  There were some things that I knew better than to have more than one serving, but I would have the second anyway.  My wife’s chili was one of those items.  It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple composition, but to me it was delicious.  I knew that second serving was going to give me heart burn, but the second serving I would have.

     Now others often decide where I go, how I get there and when I need to be somewhere else.  Then they make all the arrangements to transport me there because I am no longer able to drive myself around, at least according to the opinions of some.  And when I CAN eat it’s another who decides what I eat and how much I should have of each serving.

     Sometimes it’s hard to think back on those days when I walked in a younger man’s shoes and truly understand the “freedom” that I possessed at that time.  When I walked in a younger man’s shoes THOSE SHOES were MINE!  I WAS the younger man!  But now those days are gone and even when I do put on my shoes I don’t “walk” the same as I did when I was a younger man.  But it has helped me see things a little bit differently and to recognize that perhaps as a younger man I should have looked at things differently and maybe I should have made my decisions differently (at least some of them.)

     So I guess I’m talking to those reading this post who are presently wearing a young man’s shoes.  Make wise decisions and use your time successfully.  You may think you’re invincible and that you have “all the time” in the world.  But in actuality neither of those statements are true.  When the days arrive when you have advanced in age and you are looking back at the person who wore the younger man’s shoes hopefully you’ll have NO regrets.  Only found memories of a life that has made you very happy for a long time.  But sadly, when I wore a younger man’s shoes I didn’t listen to ANYONE --- not even myself!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"You have TWO ears and ONE mouth.

Use them proportionately."

Let's Take a Walk

     Sometimes have you ever had something you really needed to discuss with another person and you just weren’t really sure how you should approach the subject with them?  Maybe it was something fairly simple:  You just wanted to explain things to your child or maybe even you and your mate needed to get things “sorted out.”  Perhaps it was a bit more serious: You wanted to talk to your potential father-in-law about asking his daughter to marry you.  Well, maybe that’s not done in many areas any more, although perhaps it should be!  It could be that you found yourself in this situation and you just told the person: “Let’s take a walk.”

     Now we both know that when such a statement is made there are probably going to be some things brought up in the conversation that you will need to listen to closely.  And perhaps there are going to be things in that conversation that don’t really align themselves with you own way of thinking.  But you know you’re going to hear them and you’re probably beginning to formulate in your mind HOW you are going to respond.  But it’s still better to make sure you give full attention to the conversation and don’t “block out” the points you don’t want to hear.  Although through the “publishing” of a blog post we cannot truly have a conversation I hope you give an opened mind to what follows.  So, “Let’s Take a Walk!”

     “If you prick us, do we not bleed?  If you tickly us, do we not laugh?” (Act III, Scene I, William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”)  Old Bill had a way with words, but he certainly made a good point here in this quote.  He knew, whether he wanted to completely admit it or not, that ALL humans are basically the same under the skin.  He probably didn’t completely understand the science behind the issue of blood as he was simply stating a fact of reality: “When we are cut we bleed!”  The fascinating aspects of human blood are very interesting.

     Human blood is generally grouped into four types: A, B, AB, and O. Each letter refers to a kind of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells.  For example, the surface of red blood cells in Type A blood has antigens known as A-antigens.  Rhesus refers to another type of antigen, or protein, on the surface of red blood cells.  The name Rhesus comes from Rhesus monkeys, in which the protein was discovered.

    Blood types become very important when a blood transfusion is necessary.  In a blood transfusion, a patient must receive a blood type that is compatible with his or her own blood type --- that is, the donated blood must be accepted by the patient’s own blood.  If the blood types are not compatible, red blood cells will clump together, making clots that can block blood vessels and cause death.  (Personally I think transfusions are extremely dangerous and for most cases unnecessary.)

     The fact is that regardless of our race, color, or gender we all have blood that has been typed according to the statements made above.  This brings up an interesting point of discussion that was covered some years ago in the American Journal of Color Arousal.  I have quoted that article here:

     “The practice of racism constitutes a crime for which no bail will be permitted and which may not be authorized, punishable by prison as statutorily prescribed.”  Brazilian Constitution, Art. V, XLII.

““Race” and Blood Types, Superstition and Science.  Would you rather have a blood transfusion from someone who shares your skin color or from someone who shares your blood type?  It is my belief that transfusing blood from one person to another based on skin color would be an extraordinarily dangerous practice. 

The American Red Cross, which maintains blood banks, says: “Although all blood is made of the same basic elements, not all blood is alike.  In fact, there are eight different common blood types, which are determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens – substances that can trigger an immune response if they are foreign to the body.  Since some antigens can trigger a patient’s immune system to attack the transfused blood, safe blood transfusions depend on careful blood typing and cross-matching.”

[Within a chart produced by] The American Red Cross shows that if all Caucasians received O+ blood transfusions on the logic that O+ is most common among Caucasians, then sixty-three percent of white people would receive the WRONG blood type during transfusions.  Most white people would have a higher chance of receiving the proper blood type from a Hispanic person (53% O+) than they would from another white person, since the most common blood type among whites is (O+ 37%) and is also most common among Hispanics (O+ 53%).  If a white person with type O+ blood needs a battle-field transfusion and medics don’t know the blood types of another white person available and a Hispanic person is available, the best bet (53% O+) would be to give the white person a transfusion from the Hispanic person – NOT another white person.”

   By pondering this information we can see why many people feel that we should be judged by our inner characteristics and NOT by the color of our skin, our nationality, or so on.  Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  Another Unknown source stated: “Men and women are limited not by the place of their birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope.”  Naomi Johnson put it very beautifully in the following poem.

Don’t Judge the Color of My Skin

                                    Don’t judge me for the color of my skin.

                                    But from the substance I have within.

                                    My intellect I possess.

                                    And the strength I compose.

                                    The root of my spiritual fruit.

                                    And the knowledge I obtain,

                                    The wisdom I gain.

                                    And the words I use.

                                    My balance views.

                                    The confusion I defuse.

                                    My peaceful depth of soul,

                                    That I keep under control.

                                    The integrity I display.

                                    And my humble ways.

                                    My image I project.

                                    With self respect.

                                    The complete work I do.

                                    And how I see things through.

                                    For there are several elements still I hold.

                                    Even the hidden qualities I have yet unfold.

                                    So don’t just judge the color of my skin from what you see.

                                    You do not know me.



    We really should follow this suggestion and get to know a person before we make any opinions on WHO he or she is.  The world may be a better place if we were not only color-blind but perhaps completely blind and had to rely on our other senses to judge people we meet and not rely so heavily upon our sight.  Perhaps we should be more like our creator who says: “For the way man sees IS NOT the way God sees, because mere man sees what appears to the eyes, but God sees into the heart.” [1 Samuel 16:7]

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Don't think YOU'RE so superior ---

we're all made of dirt!"

Thoughts

    If you live in a large city you may have to do some travelling to get to a location where the city lights don’t blot out the beauty of the night sky and all its glory. If you are in a more rural area it might not be as much of a chore to get this done.  But in either case I’d like for you to think about doing this.  Get out where there is quiet and you can ponder the beauty of the night sky.

     As you do this, think about the following questions.  How did all these “sparkles” of light get placed there in the sky?  How are they able to exist hanging upon nothing in the vastness of space?  What great architect designed the patterns that you see as you gaze upward, knowing that you are looking into so vast a distance that it has to be measured in light years (the distance light would travel in one year at an approximate speed of ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND MILES PER SECOND!)  Who could precisely place all these things in their respective places and not have a total catastrophe taking place?  We can’t truly begin to understand the scope of the stars in the heavens!

     And yet we can turn one hundred eighty degrees in the opposite direction and look at how unbelievable small things are!  With all we continue to learn many of the small organisms still baffle us in their operations. Just consider taking a flu shot every year and they are only guessing as to what strains will probably cause the most troubles during that season.  Or maybe it’s trying to understand how the microbes have been resistant to treatments and they must hurriedly try to find a new vaccine.

     All this brings to my mind a little story I heard a long time ago.  I don’t exactly recall all the details, but it certainly made the point about our human obsessions to be something we’re not.  Or our trying to improve ourselves instead of being content the way we are.  It goes something like this:

     In an ancient Chinese village there lived a man of meager means.  Every day he and several others would walk to the mountain outside their village and “chip” away at the base of the mountain hoping to find enough jewels or other stones that they could sell in order to feed their families and obtain the other provisions they needed.  It was very hard work and the payoffs were very little.

     One day as the man “chipped” away at the mountain with the blazing heat from the sun beating down on him he began to ponder: “All day long I slave away with my pick and the sun is merciless on me.  If I were the sun my life would be free of worries and I would be the one to shine light and blazing heat upon everyone.”

     To his amazement he heard a voice: “So let it be done.”  And the man found himself to be the sun!  Now he shown upon the entire planet and enjoyed his freedom from worries.  Suddenly a cloud drifted along in the sky and blocked the light and heat of the sun from reaching part of the Earth.

     The man thought:  “This cloud has the ability to block my light and heat.  It is certainly greater than I am as the sun.  If I were ONLY the cloud! Then I would have great contentment and satisfaction.”  Once again came the mysterious voice: “So let it be done!”  And the man found himself as the cloud, blocking the light and heat from the sun.

     Along came a gentle breeze and the cloud floated along effortlessly through the sky.  The man thought this was truly the life.  No cares, no worries.  Nothing could make this life any better for the man.  Then as he was floating along there was a sudden halt to his movement.  “What was this?” thought the man.  He looked around and he had drifted into a mountain peak and could no longer advance through the sky.  “I can no longer move freely.  This mountain has proved to be greater than I am.  If ONLY I were the mountain!  Then I would be the greatest.”  Again the voice could be heard: “So let it be done!”  And the man became the mountain.

   Surely the man felt that now he was the greatest as he towered over all the region as far as the eye could see.  He was certain that now he could rest from his worries knowing that as this majestic mountain he would continue to rein over the entire region as the greatest of all.  Then he suddenly felt a chip, chip, chip at his base and realized that his majestic size was being changed.  He looked down from his elevated perch and noticed several men with picks chipping away and removing portions of his very existence.  He took a deep breath and exclaimed: “I have spent the entire day wanting to be something greater than I was as a man.  But, in reality I should be that which I was meant to be.  If ONLY I was the man I started out as at the beginning of the day.”  Again the man could hear the voice as he changed from the mountain back into the man he had been at the morning: “So let it be done.  And find your contentment, my son.”
     Is it wrong to want better?  No!  Is it wrong to seek improvements?  No!  However, many people seek these things with such overwhelming consumption that they lose sight of what they are and the many blessings and advantages they already have.  And in their consuming obsession to obtain MORE they often lose the present things they have.  This whole world is geared to make us want MORE!  Maybe life would be easier if we just developed greater contentment in our lives.  You decide for yourselves.  These are only my thoughts

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you can't do something ask for help.

If you CAN do it - - - DO IT!

And stop procrastinating!"