Strength and CourageIt takes strength to be certain,
It takes courage to have doubts.
It takes strength to fit in,
It takes courage to stand out.
It takes strength to share a friend's pain,
It takes courage to feel your own pain.
It takes strength to hide your own pain,
It takes courage to show it and deal with it.
It takes strength to stand guard,
It takes courage to let down your guard.
It takes strength to conquer,
It takes courage to surrender.
It takes strength to endure abuses,
It takes courage to stop them.
It takes strength to stand alone,
It takes courage to lean on a friend.
It takes strength to love,
It takes courage to be loved.
It takes strength to survive,
It takes courage to live.
May you find strength and courage
in everything you do,
And may your life be filled with
Friendship and Love!
- Author Unknown
NO MORE WITH ME
Author Unknown
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me! I don't mean to hold you up," he said
as he struggled to get off the escalator.
I'll admit to it. There have been times when walking or driving behind
an older person I've gotten impatient and upset. I've huffed and
zoomed around them because I was in a hurry to get nowhere. Perhaps
I'm more aware of it now because I see myself there one day soon.
Today I saw myself in this old man's shoes and it caused me to slow down,
stop and ask for his forgiveness.
He was about five or six people ahead of me. I was in a hurry and saw
him as an obstacle. I've seen people get off the end of an escalator
and stop dead in their tracks, gather their things and suddenly
there's a pile up of angry
people behind them. You can't stop an escalator full of people behind
you. Like the Energizer bunny, they keep on goin'.
This man was well aware of the challenge. He tried desperately to step
aside. Fumbling with his small packages, struggling to gain his
footing, you could see how troubling this was for him. "I'm sorry.
Please forgive me! I don't mean to hold you up," he said as he
struggled to get off the escalator.
I suddenly saw this in a whole new light. It was like I was watching
my future. I felt sorry for him. I felt sick to my stomach because
this man was apologizing to everyone, when we should have been helping
him and calming
his fears.
One by one, people zipped around him. I heard a few angry comments
whispered as one lady passed by him.
I saw me.
By the time I got to him he was just about steady on his feet.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was more," he said.
"No, sir. No more with me," I said. This really hit me hard. I
realized right then how sad it was that the world was in such a hurry.
That, of course, included me. But...no more with me. Count me out.
This wonderful man paid his dues. For whatever time he had spent on
this earth, he most likely walked many rough roads and too many
important miles. Now he should be apologizing for moving slower?
My heart ached as I looked into his eyes. I wished that I could see
what he had seen all those years. His face weathered from life itself,
was creased and wrinkled. The small soft pockets under his eyes and
the gentle lines
that curved up and around them told me he had many happy moments, too.
Those were traces left behind from laughter and a smiling, happy man.
"My friend, can I help you with those things?" I asked.
Hesitant at first, he finally said, "Well, yes, thank you!"
I placed my hand under his left arm and walked with him a safe
distance away from the rush of people.
"So what are you shopping for, sir?"
"Oh, just a little something for my neighbor. She's a young mother
raising kids on her own. She's always so nice to me. I thought a box
of candy for Mother's Day..." he said, stopping suddenly as he
searched his inside pocket of his sport coat.
"Do you need something?" I asked.
"Oh, no. Here. I think I have it right here. I always carry them with
me," he said. Then pulling out a hand full of papers he shuffled
through them and handed me a business card that read:
"John A. Pomicter
Friend to all...enemy to no one!
I said a prayer today and you were the answer. Thank you!"
"That's for you," he said. "Thanks for stopping to help an old man."
"My friend, you helped me. I discovered that I was unhappy with the
world and I was part of the problem. Now I'll be part of the solution.
No more with me!"
"Then this was meant to be," he said smiling.
"You know God sends me gifts every day and always at least one special
person. You were my gift for today! Let's go get some chocolates, my
friend."
Prayer of Abandonment
by Charles de Foucauld
Dearest Father, I abandon myself in your hands;
do with me whatever you want.
I will only be grateful for whatever you choose to do.
I am prepared for anything;
I accept everything.
My only wish is that your will be done in me.
There is nothing else, dearest Lord,
that I ask for or want.
Into your hands, I commit my life.
I offer it to you with all the affection of my heart.
And I do so, because I love you, dearest Lord,
in a way that makes it necessary to abandon myself,
and give myself completely into your hands,
without any conditions, and with limitless confidence,
because truly you are my Father.
Mother Teresa Said...
We are all capable of good and evil. We are not born bad: everybody has something good inside. Some hide it, some neglect it, but it is there. God created us to love and to be loved, so it is our test from God to choose one path or another.
Jesus Calling
June 14
I have loved you with an everlasting Love. Before time began, I knew you. For years you swam around in a sea of meaninglessness, searching for Love, hoping for hope. All that time I was pursuing you, aching to embrace you in My compassionate arms.
When time was right, I revealed Myself to you. I lifted you out of that sea of despair and set you down on a firm foundation. Sometimes you felt naked—exposed to the revealing Light of My Presence. I wrapped an ermine robe around you: My robe of righteousness. I sang you a Love song, whose beginning and end are veiled in eternity. I infused meaning into your mind and harmony into your heart. Join Me in singing My song. Together we will draw others out of darkness into My marvelous Light.
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
—Jeremiah 31:3
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
—Isaiah 61:10
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
—1 Peter 2:9 nkjv
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