To those who are hurting, know that you
are not alone. There is always someone there to turn to,
just open your heart. You are valued,
you are special, you are loved.
One night, a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other belonging to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints, and that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and questioned the LORD about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."
The LORD replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
A young man was at the end of his rope, seeing no way out, dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on", he said. "I have too heavy of a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear it's weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then open that other door, and pick out any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief said, "Thank you Lord," and he did as he was told. Upon entering the other door, he saw many crosses, some so large the tops were not visible. Then he spotted a tiny cross, leaning against a far wall. "I'd like that one Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son, that is the cross you just brought in. When life's problems seem overwhelming, it helps to look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself far more fortunate than you imagined."
~~YOUR CROSS~~
Whatever your cross, whatever your pain
There will always be sunshine after the rain.
Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall
But God's always there to help you through it all.
Pain is inevitable, misery is optional.
You were custom-made by God.
VOLUNTEERS
GOD bless them..........
many will be shocked to find when the day of judgement nears
that there's a special place in heaven set aside for volunteers
furnished with big recliners, satin couches and footstools
where there's no committee chairmen no group leaders or car pools
no eager team that needs a coach, no bazaar and no bake sale
there will be nothing to staple, not one thing to fold or mail
telephone lists will be outlawed, but a finger snap will bring
cool drinks and gourmet dinners, and treats fit for a king.
You ask, "Who'll serve these privileged few, and work for all they're worth?"
Why all those who reaped the benefits, and not once volunteered on earth!
"In the moment of any decision, the best thing to do is the right thing,
the second best thing to do is the wrong thing,
the worst thing to do is nothing."
~Teddy Roosevelt~
All it takes for evil to triumph, is for one good man to stand by and do nothing.
Sometimes the solution then becomes part of the problem.
TEMPER
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.
Over the next few weeks, as he learnd to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindles down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
GRATITUDE TO OUR VETERANS.....WHAT IS A VET?
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown fratboy behavior is outweiged a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in DaNang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the drill instructor that has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into soldiers, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career logistician who stands in the crowd, waching the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extrordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine and a saviour and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two words that mean alot, "THANK YOU".
"It is the sailor, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the Marine, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the airman, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
Amazing what just two words can do for another isn't it.....Thank You, I'm Sorry, Good Job, You're Special, the list goes on.......they can make a great difference in someone's day!!!
To make you smile......Do you remember your first kiss?
I hope you cried a little, thought a little, smiled a little.....as I did when discovering these "ponderings". They were either sent to me by friends, some were written on local church signs, or from books that I have read. There are many more, but these, each in it's own way, have a special meaning to me.
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